Little Bundle
by ReddTwilight
Summary: Written in response to a request. This story follows Bella through a pregnancy with a very supportive and sometimes overprotective Edward. Read and Review please, hugs and kisses to all!
1. Happy Birthday

**A/N: Chapter 1, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**EPOV**

Just another day.

Just another button down, dress pants, proper shoes, my jacket, and music case.

But there's more to my life than just that. Before I met the love of my life, and married her, my sole passion was music. It's still a very important part of me, but I live for my wife now, and perhaps someday a family.

Today is Monday, the beginning of another workweek; of teaching my music class at the university. Four classes a day, three days a week plus office hours, and late hours when some students need an audience for practicing and perfecting a certain piece of music. But right now we are in summer sessions and I only have two classes two days a week; today and Wednesday.

The majority of my students come in already playing an instrument and they are taking this class to perfect and hone his or her skill. Others come in wishing to get an easy A, and I know this and I warn them at the beginning of every semester that this class is not difficult, but I expect every single student to work hard, and I grade tough on performances. This is college, not high school. You can't skate by on doing half the work and faking the rest. True effort is needed.

But today isn't just Monday, and its not just the beginning of another typical week. It's my 27 birthday today, and I can already smell the French toast that my beautiful wife is cooking downstairs. Or at least I smell the cinnamon and nutmeg. I don't know if she's actually cooking yet.

With a last glance in the bathroom mirror to make sure my clothes were proper and straight, I raked my fingers back through my untidy bronze hair and turned to head downstairs. As I made my way through our bedroom I collected my jacket and case, my eyes falling across a bit of white satin on the on the bed spread. It was Bella's chemise from last night.

I took in a breath picking up the soft material and fingered it for a moment thinking back to last night. It had been a completely surprise when she walked out of the bathroom wearing the new little nightie. It was white satin with a pink floral design. And against her creamy skin it was breathtaking.

I thought about how she looked above me last night in this little nightgown. This had been the "first part" of my birthday present, as she put it. I was supposed to be getting part two sometime today. After last night, holding her above me as she made love to me and rode me, I couldn't imagine anything better than that.

"Something smells delicious in here." I said walking into the kitchen. Bella was situated at the counter dipping thick slices of bread into a batter. 5'4'' with brown hair down to her waist and chocolate eyes to match, creamy ivory skin and the most infectious laugh, my Bella was a rarity.

Witty and armed with a sharp tongue she could battle it out with anybody in any debate or argument and typically win. Her only match was my brother Emmett, and that was because he was good at flinging sexual innuendos and making Bella blush the loveliest rose color and stammer over her words, most times forgetting the argument that started whatever word war they were having.

I placed a kiss on her temple and dropped my hands to her hips as I stood behind her. "Good morning, making my favorite?"

"Did you expect different?" Bella asked with a smart tone. She glanced at me over her shoulder. She finished dipping the slice of bread she was working on and set it aside on the a pan before turning and sliding her arms around my neck, leaning up on her toes and planting the sweetest, softest kiss on my lips. "Happy birthday," She smiled against my mouth.

"Thank you," I whispered back. We just stood there holding each other for the longest time. This was heaven for us. We needed nothing else. My eyes roamed the counter behind Bella and fell on her morning cup of coffee, except today there was a teabag in the cup. "Mint," I read off the little tag hanging over the lip of the cup. "I thought you only drink that when you feel sick?"

"Good observations, I must be feeling sick this morning." Bella picked the cup up and sipped it carefully.

"Did I undercook dinner last night?"

"No, just a little upset stomach this morning. Nothing serious," Bella sipped her tea again and turned back to the counter to finish dipping the bread slices.

"Need any help?" I offered moving to stand next to her. She had a bowl of whole strawberries sitting in the sink. "Want me to cut these for you?"

"No, you get to sit and relax this morning. It's your day,"

I sighed dramatically and Bella threw me a look that said 'knock it off and go sit'. "Your coffee's on the table already. Just the way you like it."

"Thank you," I dropped a kiss on top of her head and walked over to the little breakfast table we had in the kitchen. She had it set for two, and a welcoming looking, steaming cup was sitting next to my plate, but my attention was grabbed by what was sitting _on_ my plate. A plain white envelope with my name inside a hand drawn heart decorated the front.

I sat down slowly and picked I up. It looked too small to be a card and certainly didn't feel thick enough. I heard footsteps behind me and turned over my shoulder to see Bella standing at the edge of the center island watching me. "What is this?"

"Just open it." She encouraged with a smile.

I stood as I pulled the flap open walking over to stand next to her. Bella slipped her arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder as I lifted the envelope open and started to pull out the paper inside. Was it a photo she took that I didn't know about?

"It's blank," I said when I pulled the card out.

"Flip it, you dummy." Bella laughed, her voice thick with emotion. I looked over at her and saw tears forming in her eyes.

"Bella, what is this?"

"Flip it,"

I turned the thin card over and my heart stopped. In my hand lay a fuzzy black and white photo. What it was, was unmistakable. "Really?" I looked down at Bella and she nodded to me, the tears falling freely down her face now. I looked back at the sonogram. There were two, not one, little white shapes on there. "Really?" I asked again.

"Really," Bella clarified.

"Twins?"

"Twins,"

I stared down at the sonogram again and felt the latent moisture well up in my eyes. I sniffed meaningfully and Bella cooed beside me wrapping her arm tighter around my waist holding me to her. "Wow," I breathed.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." Bella stood on her toes and kissed my cheek.

"What a gift," I stared at the sonogram another minute longer, my arm snaking around Bella's waist to rest my hand on her flat stomach. "How far along are you?"

"Almost nine weeks. You were spot on with the tea, I'm surprised it didn't tip you off more." Bella broke away from me and started to walk back toward the counter.

I sniffed again and wiped at my eyes reaching out to grab her wrist. "Oh no, you sit. I'll cook. You rest."

"Edward," Bella laughed my name as I pulled her to me and toward the table. She grabbed my face and kissed me soundly. "Don't start getting all overprotective now. You've got plenty of time for that later."

"Do you know yet, the gender I mean?"

"Not yet, I'm scheduled to go back to my GYN in about a month for another sonogram. She said it'll be easier then to tell."

I wrapped my arms around Bella and kissed her deeply. I was so happy and proud and joyful and ecstatic and thousands of other things all at once right now. I cupped her face in my hands when we parted, "At least let me cook with you. It's not my day anymore, its ours."

"That I will agree to, now. I just really wanted you to open that first." Bella's lips pulled up into a half smile.

"Sneaky little thing, aren't you?" I stroked a finger down the side of her face.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "I learn from the best."

"Oh, you mean Alice?" I quipped mentioning my little sister with all the talents of a pixie. Short with dark, spiky hair, and a spiky temper if you pissed her off. But we all learned that well when she was young, that you don't mess with her. But she was the best of all three of us, me, Emmett and her, in sneaking around, and that was because she was the smallest. Bella was only six inches taller than her, but still just as small. Well, at least for now. I smiled to myself at the thought of her growing rounder and rounder over the coming months. I couldn't wait.

"I'm starving, can we finish breakfast now?" she asked, breaking me from my reverie.

"Absolutely. You need to be fed." I grabbed her hand and walked her back over to the counter.

"Hang on, now that this is open…" Bella grabbed the sonogram from where I left it on the table and stuck it to the fridge. "We can display it."

"I want an extra copy to put on my desk."

"I figured as much." Bella pecked me on the nose and disappeared out into the hallway. She returned a moment later with a small package wrapped in blue paper and handed it to me. "Don't open it until you get to work."

"I promise,"

"I love you,"

"I love you, too." I closed the little space between our bodies pressing my hand to her stomach. "All of you,"

After a very festive breakfast; Bella and I sitting at the table and sipping orange juice from champagne flutes and feeding each other, I reluctantly left to head off to the university where I taught, my eyes flicking to the little package on the seat beside me on top of my jacket.

I knew what it was, but I was dying to see the actual frame she had picked out. It was probably going to be some baby related frame, maybe in a neutral yellow, or a wood frame. I had no idea, but I was absolutely dying to see it.

I parked in my usual space and checked the clock on my Volvo's console. Ten to eight, perfect timing. My office was located in the performing arts building, but my classroom was just a ten minute walk and two buildings down in visual arts. Don't ask me why they do this, I don't. I'll never understand why they split it this way.

Today was going to be hectic. I had three students in my morning class doing solo performances and then a very long practice with a very talented violin player in the afternoon. She takes private lessons of her own, and I'm only accompanying her on the piano, but having the extra harmony in the background is always helpful.

My summer courses are more so geared as private lessons, but they really are a class and most of the music major students here take it to get ahead for the fall or because they didn't do as well as they hoped previously. I had a reputation for being a real hard ass, but my students respect me, and in turn I respect them.

But the class isn't all playing and practicing. There's also some music history built in and some music appreciation. The students who come in to this class using it as an elective and don't play any instruments must learn some basic piano and perform a piece at the end of the semester as his or her final.

Those who already play an instrument continue on with it and perform a piece for said instrument. I personally know a handful, and among them is piano, guitar, and bass. I could probably play a wind instrument if asked to but I would have to practice hard in order to be any good. My calling lies in the piano. It and Bella are the two halves of my soul.

"Good morning," I smiled to the assistant behind the desk in the main office area, and headed toward the door with my name on it.

"Good morning, and happy birthday." Kate greeted me.

"Thank you, but keep that quiet."

"Is that from Bella?" She asked eyeing the blue package in my hand.

"Yeah, she said I couldn't open it until I got here." I looked down at it and smirked. "Guess I should open it."

"What do you think it is?" she asked getting up and walking around the desk to watch as I pulled the paper loose.

"I know what it is. What it's enclosed in is what I want to see." I pulled the rest of the paper off and turned the frame over. It was silver metal and there was a spot for two pictures in it. I heard Angela gasp beside me when she saw one of the pictures. The other was mine and Bella's wedding photo. Underneath it said 'Mommy and Daddy'. Beside it was the space that held Bella's sonogram. Underneath was 'Baby', and across the top in script was 'Family'. It was simple, but beautiful and full of meaning.

"Is she really?" Kate asked, slightly breathless.

"Yeah, she is, with twins. Almost nine weeks already. I just found out this morning."

"What a great gift," Kate headed back to her seat behind the desk. "You two must be so excited."

"Yeah we are, and I'm not allowed to fuss over her. Well, at least not a lot, not yet."

"Learn now to listen to her, and do yourself a big favor and bring home ice cream tonight."

I laughed out loud as I reached for the doorknob on my office door and turned it. I flicked on the light illuminating the very small space. Off white walls and an L-shaped desk that at one end sat a desktop computer and the other end held all of my files. I had several framed photos of my family and Bella and I in here along with some funny music related posters that students had given me over the last two years since I started teaching.

I placed the frame Bella had given me on the desk near the computer where I spent most of my time in here and dropped my case with my folders on the floor. I sat there for the longest time just staring at the two pictures, occasionally running my finger over the sonogram. I was going to be a father. We were going to be a family. I couldn't believe it.

I sat back in my chair and pulled my cell phone from my pocket to type a quick text to Bella before heading out to walk to my 9:00 class.

_I'll be thinking about all three of you all day. I love you, thank you for being my bride. _

My finger hovered over the 'send' button for a moment, but before I pressed it I added one more line of text to the message, chuckling as I typed it.

_I'm bringing home something sweet for you, too, xoxo E_

A/N: Awww… What a sweet beginning for them. Drop me any questions, concerns and of course reviews, that you may have. I sleep with my laptop.


	2. Family Brunch

**A/N: Chapter 2, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**EPOV**

I woke before Bella this morning, eager to see her and watch her sleep. It's been six days since she told me of our future family. I swear her stomach has already gotten a little rounder, or maybe I'm just overexcited. But she is absolutely beautiful, so much so that's she sparkling in the morning sunlight spilling into our bedroom. I shifted a little closer to her and reached out to brush a strand of hair from her eyes.

Bella moaned softly in her sleep and inched right up next to me snuggling her head onto my shoulder and wrapping an arm across my bare torso. She smiled mischievously in her sleep, her hand creeping down underneath the sheet. I held back a moan of my own as her fingers started to rub up and down my length.

"Good morning to you, too," I whispered to her.

Bella's smile grew more mischievous and her eyes opened gazing up at me. "Good morning," She craned her neck and reached up to kiss me, her hand starting to stroke underneath the sheet.

"I don't think that's a very good idea." I warned her.

"I think it is,"

"We have to be at my parents' house in a couple hours, if you keep doing that we'll be late."

Bella scoffed. "Please, it won't take that long."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, a quikie?" I asked incredulous.

"No..."

"Wait," I sat up a little and stared at her, her expression was teasing and she was working hard not to giggle, "Are you saying it takes me no time to get off? Are you implying that all I care about is…"

"Instant gratification?" Bella finished for me.

I laid back down with a heavy sigh pretending to be hurt, but Bella relaxed beside me and reached back under the sheet starting to stroke harder. I allowed myself the luxury of a loud moan. "I was just going to lay here and work you with my hand, but…" Bella inched closer to me so that she was practically lying on top of me, "If you want it to be both of us…" She closed the space between our mouths.

When we parted I let my eyes open and turned to look at her, my hands finding her waist and drawing her on top of me settling her across my lap. "You can't offer that and then not deliver it." I chided her playfully, tapping the tip of her nose with my finger.

Bella chuckled lightly and leaned down kissing me fully and nipping at my bottom lip. "Oh I intend to make good on my offer." She promised, that mischievous grin creeping into her eyes. She bowed down over me again so her mouth was right at my ear, her breath fanning across my neck, "Several times,"

We were very reluctant to leave the perfect little bubble we had created in our bedroom, but leave we must since it was Sunday, and that meant family brunch at my parents' house, and more importantly we were telling everyone the news today.

I watched Bella as she dressed in comfortable slacks and a short-sleeved blouse. She fiddled with the waistband of her pants for a moment looking a little uncomfortable. "Too tight?" I asked from the bathroom, watching her in the mirror.

"Yeah, I think Esme is going to have to take some of my clothes out a few inches."

"What about just getting maternity clothes?" I flipped the light off and headed back out into the bedroom to put my shoes on.

"It's too early for that. A few more months and I'll need those. Alice will probably volunteer herself to shop with me, so you won't have to be tortured. She'll make me the most fashionable pregnant woman, if possible."

"Oh, without a doubt. You know Alice."

Bella nodded enthusiastically as she pulled her hair up into a stylish twist and stuck a pair of hair sticks into it to keep it in place. The little sticks resembled chopsticks, but were thicker in order to hold bundles of hair together. She slipped on her favorite flats and went about gathering her laptop and a big binder of plastic pages that were filled with photographs.

"Why are you bringing those?" I asked as she packed them in their carry case together.

"Alice and I have some photos we need to go over for a client before we start tweaking them. Remember I called out Friday, I wasn't feeling well, obviously," and Bella motioned to her stomach, "Well, I missed a shoot and I need to go over the pictures with her."

Alice and Bella owned their own photo gallery. It gave Bella a chance to express her creativity, and Alice a chance to showcase her designs. Bella had studied photography and business in college, her dream being to own her own place someday, and after Alice graduated with a degree in business as well as fashion and art design the two girls got together and with a little initial financial help from my parents, they now owned one of the more successful photography and fashion studios in the state.

They did everything from family shoots to working with individuals for headshots. Alice also worked with several friends of hers who were getting into the fashion business and working on designing their own line of clothing or accessories, (and sometimes both), and Bella provided the photographs they needed of each item. They had opened the studio only a year ago and already models, private companies, and dozens of families looking for solid professional work sought after them. I was very proud of them both, and owning their own business provided luxuries for them that working for someone else would not.

They could set their own hours; that was going to be very a convenient perk in the coming months; and they can also work from home. That was going to make Bella's life ten times easier when she went on maternity leave. But knowing Bella she would probably still want to be front and center when it came to her business. She and Alice had worked very hard to get it on its feet, and initially Bella had taken simple photographs of Alice of modeling her own designs, and within three months they had an extensive client list and were booked solid through to Christmas.

Before we left to head over to my parents' house Bella let Aro, our one-year-old German shepherd out back to do his business real quick and I spot cleaned the kitchen. Aro received a cookie for being a good dog and I told him to make sure he guarded the house while we were gone. He was ninety pounds now, big and intimidating, but he was really just a big baby.

As soon as I gave him the order, he just stared at me with his tongue hanging out and barked once before whining when he saw the car keys in Bella's hand. He lay down and groaned as he laid his head on his paws. "Don't start with that," Bella whined at him.

"You know he doesn't actually understand you, right?"

"But he understands you telling him to protect the house?" Bella challenged, hand on her hip.

"We're men, we get each other through tone. Right, Aro?"

Aro picked his head up and tipped it to the side when I said his name. He barked once in agreement with my question. "See," I turned back to Bella with a triumphant grin, "we get each other."

Bella sighed dramatically and twirled the keys on her finger. "Whatever, lets go, I'm starving."

"You're always starving," I quipped back as I shut the door.

The drive to my parents' house was mostly quiet, except for the sound of Bella turning pages in her huge binder and the soft rock from the CD I was playing. I knew she was busy thinking, more worrying, about telling the family our big news. We were just pulling into the horseshoe shaped driveway when she finally spoke a full sentence.

She was eyeing Emmett's car in front of ours. "We need to get that leak in the kitchen sink fixed."

"Yeah, I know. Rose and Em are coming over Wednesday for dinner right?"

"Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. Make him do it."

Bella and I exchanged a chuckle as she put her binder away and I offered to carry the bag inside for her. Bella slipped an arm around my waist as we walked up the front steps and leaned up to kiss my cheek. That always earned a smile in response. I loved being showered with affection from my wife.

And second, my mother, who was now gripping me in a very tight hug and telling me how much she'd missed me since she last saw me two weeks ago. She hugged Bella next and I watched as my wife held back just a little but not enough to be noticeable.

"How was Williamsburg?" Bella asked as we all walked inside the house. I left her case in the outside hall and followed both women into the kitchen.

"Oh beautiful," My mother gushed. "Just the relaxing vacation Carlisle and I needed, and we may just go back next year. It's so lovely this time of year."

"And hot," I added.

My mother threw me a look before turning back to Bella. "Everyone is already outside, I'm going to start cooking in a little bit. And before you offer help, I've already recruited Emmett. You two helped more than enough with the last family dinner. Now go sit," And Esme directed us toward the back door with a playful smile.

Bella headed outside first but I lingered a moment just watching her. "Oh, I forgot to ask, would you two like coffee?"

"Sure, regular for me and decaf for Bella."

Esme walked over and got down two more cups from a cabinet over the sink. "Since when does Bella drink decaf?"

"Uh…About a week now. She wanted to make a switch, said regular was giving her headaches…" I lied as quickly as I could. I had almost slipped just then and I don't think Bella would've appreciated me spilling the beans without her. I chatted with my mom while she emptied what was left in the coffee put into a cup for me and started a pot of decaf.

The back door opened and Bella walked in saying she was just grabbing her computer bag and binder. She gave me a quick kiss on the way back out. I noticed Esme watching her carefully. "Is it just me, or did Bella gain a touch of weight?"

"It's just you." I said quickly, sipping my hot coffee. "Oh that's good, mom. Where did you get that?"

"Virginia, we brought back a lot of samplings actually. I have some apple butter that I'm putting out for the toast. I think Bella will really enjoy that. She likes apples right?"

"Not lately, they've been making her sick."

"Really," Esme glanced at me over her shoulder.

Shit, almost slipped again. It was too easy to talk naturally around my mother. I better make an escape. I grabbed the cup of decaf she had just finished pouring and gave my mother a kiss on top of her head before I excused myself outside. "Decaf for the lady," I said placing Bella's cup down next to her.

"Thank you,"

I settled into a chair beside her watching as she and my sister poured over photos both in the binder and on their laptops. I owed Alice my whole life as far as I was concerned. She and Bella had been best friends since fifth grade and she had introduced us finally in high school, sophomore year, and we've been together ever since. If Alice had never told me to ask Bella to homecoming dance that year I may never have known the quiet girl with eyes like melted milk chocolate.

"I like that one, they look really good in this, almost statuesque." Alice was saying as they flipped through a collection on Bella's laptop.

"Yes, they look good together with him standing behind her like that, but she looks too…Uptight? Is that a good word. Her face was too tense in these." Bella flipped through the pictures until she found one where the couple was laughing together. "This one is much better. I would recommend this one to them to use on the cards."

"Yeah, but the dress isn't right." Alice moved the picture up and down on the screen looking at it from different angles.

"Well, we can always ask her if we can change the dress. I really like this one," Bella sat back in her chair, her usual position when she had made up her mind.

Alice grabbed the binder and flipped through Bella's pictures. "Ok, but we need to change the background to this one, it's more serene." Alice pointed to a background sample in Bella's binder. It was deep orange.

"And the lighting, the lighting is horrifying. Which direction were you pointing the lamp, Alice?" Bella shot at her.

"The right direction, " Alice said defensively, "I'm not the photographer, you are. I don't know or have half the skill you do."

"Thank you, and yes you are a skilled photographer. Just because I studied it and you didn't doesn't mean anything. You have a much more natural eye than I do."

"Emmett, get in here," Esme called from the house.

"Aw, mom, do I have to?" Emmett whined from where he sat next to his wife, he was bouncing a plump little black haired baby on his knee.

"Yes, you have to. It's your turn. Hand Nate over to Rose and get your behind in here. You too, Jasper."

Jasper groaned from his seat in disapproval and stalked into the house behind Emmett. They started punching each other's biceps and laughing. "This is so undignified." Emmett muttered as he shut the back door.

"Babies," Alice called after them. Jasper appeared at the back door and waving and smiling sarcastically, and flipped Alice off. She stuck her tongue out at him. The door opened and he stuck his head out.

"At least you don't have to be in here, I could make her make you trade places with me since you never do any cooking." Jasper half threatened. He would never make his beloved wife do anything she adamantly hated.

"I have work to do," Alice said seriously and waved him back inside as Esme called him again.

Jasper grumbled as he shut the door and I watched a triumphant smile creep onto my sister's face. "You can be a real bitch sometimes, you know that?" I directed at my sister and sipped my coffee throwing an arm over Bella's shoulder.

"Yeah I know," Alice agreed wholeheartedly, "How do you think I keep Jasper in line?"

"By telling him what to do," Bella stated, knowing the exact answer.

"Damn right," Alice and Bella shared a high five.

Bella settled back down into her chair, and almost instantly her face turned a strange shade of green. "Sweetheart, are you ok?" I asked sitting up.

"Um, no, excuse me." Bella got up hastily and rushed toward the house with her hand over her mouth. She nearly collided with my father in her haste to get inside.

"Bella, are you ok?" he asked as she rushed past.

She shook head and didn't answer, just kept making a beeline for the closest bathroom.

Carlisle walked outside with his cup in one hand and shut the back door with the other. "Is she ok?" he asked sitting down in a chair at the dining table.

"Yeah, nothing serious. She's just been feeling a little off lately."

"If I didn't know better, and I do, I'd guess that Bella has morning sickness." Rosalie chimed in from where she sat on the patio in the sunlight, Nate waddling around her as she held one of his hands. He'd just started walking and was still uneasy on his tiny legs.

I threw a look in my sister-in-law's direction, a look that basically said, 'shut the hell up'. Rosalie didn't know that she was absolutely correct, but I wasn't going to let her announce any speculations.

Rose just smirked at me and scooped Nate into her arms walking over to the table and settled into one of the free chairs. She set Nate in her lap and let him play with the necklace she had on. Alice continued to pour over the pictures, tweaking the extra copies of them to show the clients before and after effects. Bella reappeared a couple minutes and sat back down between Alice and me and acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired.

Suddenly there was a crash from inside and a loud yell, and Emmett was laughing. The back door flew open and he was practically thrown out by our mother, yelling at him. He had pancake batter in his hair. "Oh for the love of God, Emmett." Rosalie exclaimed.

"What, it wasn't my fault. Your darling Jasper started it," Emmett glared at Alice.

"Doubtful, he's much more serious in the kitchen than you are, dear brother." Alice responded without turning over her shoulder.

Emmett grabbed a towel from one of the poolside tables and started wiping out the batter. He took Nate from Rosalie who went inside to take his place, and he took her seat going back to bouncing him on his knee. Rose came back out a minute with a cup in her hand and set it down next to Bella.

"Mint tea, from Esme."

"Thanks, Rose." Bella took the cup gratefully and started to sip slowly. Rose disappeared back inside, but not before throwing daggers at her husband. He just smiled and failed at trying to hide a laugh. Rose hated to get her hands dirty, but it was obvious she was going to have to today since Emmett was in too playful of a mood and he couldn't take anything seriously.

"You owe me a full massage for this," she called over her shoulder at him as she slammed the door.

"Whatever blows your dress up," He muttered quietly. We all laughed and Bella just snickered as she continued to sip her tea.

She and Alice continued to pour mindlessly over their work until Esme appeared with a heaping plate of pancakes, Rose and Jasper following carrying other plates and bowls of food. Alice and Bella packed away their computers and took them inside for safekeeping.

Alice came back out first and told me Bella needed to run to the bathroom again and to just make her a plate of toast and fruit, something light. I did so, and also added a scoop of scrambled eggs and a strip of bacon; she needed protein.

"Thank you," Bella said appreciatively as she sat back down, eyeing her plate. "I'm starving something crazy right now."

"Even after being sick like that?" Jasper glanced up at her.

Bella looked up at him, caught off guard by his question and I watched as she weighed her words carefully. She was being sneaky and chewing as an excuse not to answer right away and come up with a good explanation.

"Um… Yeah."

That was the best she could do? She quickly took another forkful of eggs to busy her mouth with so she wouldn't have to elaborate further. I slipped my hand around her and rubbed soothing circles on her back.

We never really talked much while eating, except for maybe a comment about the food here and there. My mother's food was so unbelievable that everyone preferred to eat it while hot and do it proper justice, and save all the chatter for after and pick on whatever was left over. If anything, Esme rarely ever had leftovers when the family got together for meals.

Bella finished everything on her plate without having to run back inside, and even got through a chocolate chip pancake. "Feel better?" I asked after she finally pushed her plate away from her. She grabbed her glass of orange juice and sipped it.

"Much," she sighed. "Very good, Esme, thank you."

There were echoes of 'thank you' and 'great meal' around the table. My mother just smiled proudly, appearing humbled, but I knew she always had an ego boost after an event like this. She loved to see us appreciate a good warm meal, especially when she cooked it.

"I'm ready to get out of the heat." Rose said standing and taking Nate with her. "I could use part of that massage now, too."

"Yeah, I agree, let's go inside, it's getting muggy out here." Alice stood up and collected some plates following after Rose. Emmett and Jasper collected more and made up more of the line heading inside. Bella started to collect a few things, and I gave her a look that said, 'don't', and she threw daggers back at me glancing to my parents.

"Nothing too heavy," I whispered to her.

"Don't you start fussing now," she warned me, and took my chin in her hand to pull me in for a kiss. "I don't think I'll be able to live through the next seven months if you start fussing over me now."

"Sorry, can't help it. Basic instinct."

"Uh huh," Bella nodded like she didn't believe me, grabbed a couple more plates and headed inside.

I caught the look both of my parents threw at me and shrugged pretending like I didn't know what Bella's problem was. "Everything ok between you two?" Esme asked.

"Yeah, it's perfect." In more ways than one.

After I placed all of the dirty in the sink into the dishwasher I joined everyone in the large living room. Nate was on the floor playing with a couple toys Rose had brought for him. She was currently sitting with Emmett on the floor next to their son just watching him, helping him when necessary as he tried to walk around. Jasper and Alice were cuddled on the couch, and Carlisle was sitting in an armchair with a thick volume in his lap. Probably another medical journal.

Esme was still cleaning up some dishes with Bella helping. I stood in the large entryway watching and waiting for the cleaning to be done so Bella and I could make our little announcement, although there was nothing little about it. I glanced back into the kitchen watching her move back and forth between the dishwasher and the sink. Esme rinsed everything and Bella placed in the washer.

From where I was standing I could see where the waistband on her pants was getting tight. Right in the front along her abdomen. So she was getting a little rounder, just not noticeably yet. I couldn't wait until she was huge. I wouldn't be able to stop smiling. I couldn't stop now.

"What's with the grin?" I heard Alice ask.

I snapped my head around to look at her. "Sorry, what?"

"You're grinning like a stupid idiot staring at Bella. What' up?"

"Oh nothing. I just love looking at her."

Alice rolled her eyes and went back to mumbling nonsense with Jasper. I felt an arm slip around my waist. "I love watching you, too." Bella whispered to me. She took my hand and pressed it to her stomach discreetly. "Ready?"

"I;ve been ready. I almost slipped twice already."

"Well, let's relieve you of the stress, shall we?"

We walked out into the living room and made ourselves comfortable on one of the couches. As soon as Esme walked in, beaming as she took in her entire family assembled together, I sat up a little straighter on the couch and cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"Great, now I don't know if I can say this," I started, stumbling over my words. Bella reached over and took my hand. "Uh, we have some really good news." As soon as the words left my mouth I saw Alice's and Esme's eyes bug out and start shining. Rosalie just smirked. Yeah, yeah, you were right.

"Um…" I stumbled over my words again trying to find the right way to deliver this. I'll just go with the point. "We're having twins," I mumbled, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Alice completely bubbled over and shouted and ran over gathering Bella up in a hug. "Easy, pixie sister; morning sickness, remember?" Bella breathed. Esme started crying as she joined the hug.

"I'm so happy for you both."

The whole family took turns coming over and giving us hugs and congratulations, and when Bella was finally able to sit back down again I gathered her feet into my lap and pulled her shoes off so I could start rubbing.

"Hey, Emmett, explain to me why I have to ask you for a massage when Bella doesn't."

"Because I'm not a mind reader like Edward. Beside, even if I was, you don't know how to make up your mind. You'd have me running around like crazy."

"She already has you running around like crazy," I joked, and everyone laughed. Rose pulled her shoes and placed her feet in Emmett's lap. He sighed for dramatic effect but started to rub them. I knew he was just kidding with her, he loved Rosalie more than anything. He lived for his family.

And soon, when I have one, that's what I'll be living for, too.

A/N: In the previous chapter, the receptionist is supposed to be Kate, I may not have changed every Angela, I picked Angela for a different role in this story. Sorry for any confusion.

Also, I posted pictures for this story on my profile. Check them out! Love you all xoxoxox

ReddTwilight


	3. Toilets, Twinkies, and Tears

**A/N: Chapter 3, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

"Will you stop being self conscious and get your little butt out here," I called from the bedroom.

"It's not going to be little for long, and I swear if you laugh…" Bella threatened. The bathroom door cracked open and she stuck her head out.

"Come on," I encouraged from where I sat on the side of the bed, curling my finger toward me.

Bella groaned and pulled the door open. She stood there wearing a black baby doll that tied shut at the top and hung open the rest of the way. She was twelve weeks along now and showing a little when she didn't have a shirt on and could still hide her small bump under most of the blouses she wore, but she had already taken several pairs of her favorite pants to my mother to be let out.

"I feel ridiculous wearing this," Bella grumbled as she sauntered over to me. "I'll never forgive your sister for this." She settled into my lap draping her arms loosely around my neck and kissed me soundly.

"I like it," I whispered to her and bowed my head to start placing light kisses up and down her neck. "And you know you can't deny your hormones right now."

"I can't deny myself anything right now, it's all too unpredictable."

I chuckled and drew her down onto the bed beside me. We lay on our sides facing each other, just running hands over skin and sighing and moaning quietly. "You look absolutely beautiful," I said as I stroked a finger along her cheekbone. "And I don't just mean the nightgown, I mean all of you. You're positively ethereal."

"Aww…Thank you, Edward. I feel terrible, though. I swear it's two boys in there."

"Well, we'll know tomorrow. What time is the appointment?"

"2:30, I think. I need to check, I don't remember." Bella snuggled closer to me wrapping an arm around my bare body and pulled herself close.

"Don't get too comfortable," I warned her. She yawned in response. "Oh no you don't." I grasped her waist and rolled over onto my back pulling her on top of me.

"Oh come on, I'm tired." She yawned again from her straddled position above me.

"You were horny not two minutes ago."

"Fine, you be the pregnant one, and I'll nag you." Bella poked my chest with each individual word.

"No thanks, I'll pass on that. You nag me enough as it is." I smirked up at her.

"And you fuss too much," Bella shot back.

"I'm a first time father, give me a break."

"And I'm a first time mother, don't harass me."

"Are you having a mood swing?" I was only half serious with the question.

Bella yawned again nodding, "Probably," She shifted above me getting comfortable.

"Not yet," I moved up the bed so I was sitting against the headboard. Bella remained in her straddled position still in my lap. Very slowly I reached up and took her face in my hands and leaned in to kiss her.

This was how we both liked to start, slow and sensual. My hands moved down her neck to her shoulders, and continued to move down her arms until they fell to her waist. I stroked my thumb back and forth over her bare skin as my mouth moved to her neck and I worked a little magic there for her. Her entire body was extremely sensitive, and now even more so.

Everything was in overdrive, and none more than her hormones. I'd come home from a class and the first Bella would do if she was home was throw her arms around me and back me into a wall. Granted she would do that before, but never with the intensity and desperation she did now.

I leaned into her more forcing her to start backing up down the bed. She laid down on her back and opened her arms to me inviting me to lie on top of her. I was careful not to press all of my weight down on her at once, supporting myself mostly on my arms. She sighed as I repeated the kisses from moments earlier on her neck, her hand starting to drift down my torso.

As soon as I felt her fingers close around my growing erection I detached from her neck and allowed myself a low moan. "That feels so good, Bells."

"I'm sure it does," Bella breathed in my ear. She started to stroke firmly, just enough to make me hard, but not lose control. Lately the most comfortable position for her was on top, and I'm sure as she grows bigger that was going to change. A round stomach did pose a potential problem in this area.

I moved off of her, groaning at the loss of her clever hand, but I wrapped an arm around her and drew her back up the bed with me lying on my back and settling her across my lap once more. I lifted her up and brought her back sliding the whole of my length in to her at once. Bella threw her head back, the tips of her long hair tickling my knees.

I kept my hands at her waist as she started moving, a gentle rocking motion that had room to grow harder and faster. This was our guilty pleasure, but I felt bad for Bella. Her hormones were out of control, her moods were all over the place, and some mornings she was so lethargic she didn't want to be bothered getting out of bed. I would never be able to deal with that if I was the pregnant one.

I shuddered at the thought.

Bella moving rougher above me snapping me back to reality. I grasped her waist with one hand and her thigh with other, simultaneously stroking both. She purred in gratitude and moved harder. I was content to lie back and let her do everything, this was more so for her anyway, but I have to admit seeing her so hormonal crazy and add to that, that she is positively glowing and radiant, I just want to jump her bones all the time.

And I know she feels the same.

We started moving a little faster together and almost instantly I felt the familiar pressure building at the base of my spine. My release was approaching. Bella had a look of concentration on her face as she worked her body up and down on mine. She was close, too. I could feel it in the way her muscles were clenching around my erection. God she felt fabulous.

"_Bella_," Her name spilled from my lips in a broken moan as I came and pushed my hips into hers. Bella moaned loudly as her flint sparked and soon she was shouting my name. That always did wonders for my ego. That and knowing that I was one pleasuring her.

Bella came down from her high slowly and l lowered her to the bed so she was lying beside me facing me. "Good sex," she sighed propping herself up on one elbow.

"Good is an understatement."

"Great sex," Bella corrected, running her hand up and down my naked chest.

"That's slightly better,"

Bella shook her head at me and wrapped her hand around my neck pulling my mouth hers. "Fantastic sex, final offer."

"Fantastic works for me," I whispered. We lay there for a little while longer making out lazily before I finally pulled the sheet over us and reached over to turn the lamp off on the nightstand.

Bella let out a soft, content sigh as she snuggled into my arms, wrapping an arm around me and stroking my back. I leaned in and kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips, her chin, her neck, and anywhere else I could reach easily. I showered her with feather light pecks for a long couple of minutes, my hand gently rubbing her abdomen. It felt slightly rounder to me, and I smiled against Bella's mouth at the reason why.

"Good night my love, sleep well." I whispered to her.

"Good night," she yawned back, and leaned in to place a final kiss on my chest before completely passing out.

The next afternoon I left a note with Kate in the music office that I was cancelling my afternoon class to take Bella for her appointment. Kate assured me she would post the note on the classroom door and that my students would be more than excited. She wished me luck at the appointment. I told her it was just a routine appointment, but today we would find out the sex of the babies.

"What are you hoping for?" Kate asked me from her desk as I finished packing things in my case.

"It really doesn't matter to me, we're having twins that's all that matters. But if I had to choose, which you are obviously going to make me do, I'd say one of each."

"You're going to have twin boys, I know it."

"Probably, Bella says it feels like two boys in there."

Kate laughed and waved me out of the office ushering me to get home to my wife. Bella was ready and waiting for me in the kitchen finishing a glass of water. She downed it slowly and set it on the counter.

"I feel like I'm going to burst," She said getting up, "And what's worse is I can't pee until _after_ the ultrasound. This is ridiculous."

I held the door for her as we walked out to my car snickering under my breath as she grumbled and complained about how I better not hit any bumps on the way to the OB/GYN or she was going to wet herself in the car.

"This is not funny, Edward," She yelled at me as she buckled her seatbelt.

"I'm sorry, honey, you're right. It's not funny," I tried very hard to keep a straight face, but failed miserably. "It's hilarious."

"Bite me, Cullen,"

Uh oh, she used my last name. Now I was in trouble. Bella never called me by my last name unless she was really mad at me. I looked over at her apologetically when I backed the car out of the driveway and reached over to run the side of my hand down her cheek. Bella just crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window. Shit.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart.

"You can make it up to me by stopping on the way home for Twinkies, and anything else I want." She said stiffly, still not looking at me, but I saw the hint of a smile pull at the corner of her mouth.

"Whatever you want," I said lovingly to her.

Bella remained silent for the rest of the drive to the doctor's office, but halfway there she reached over and placed her hand on my thigh, where it remained until I parked the car and had to get out to run over to the other side and open her door. I knew Bella could do it on her own but I wanted to make up for being a jackass back at home.

I grabbed her hand and held it tightly as we walked inside to the office. Bella eyed up the bathroom lustfully as we passed it and sighed. I could only imagine that she must be dying, but she couldn't use it, not yet.

"Appointment for Bella Cullen," she told the receptionist.

"With Doctor Webber?" the woman behind the desk asked in return.

"Yes, for 2:30,"

"Just sign in here and we'll call you when she's ready. She's running a little behind today. Did you drink your water?"

"Unfortunately, yes, and I'm dying." Bella chuckled, trying to alleviate her pain.

The receptionist shared the chuckle and nodded smiling understandingly. She gestured to the empty seats in the waiting area and said it wasn't going to be a long wait. I sat down beside Bella and picked up the first magazine I saw. Of course it was a parenting magazine, so I flipped it open and thumbed through a couple of articles before looking over at my wife.

She was nervously looking around the waiting area, her hands folded on her lap and her knees bouncing repeatedly, and very quickly. She was literally bursting, and I knew she was praying she wouldn't pee when the doctor pressed that little thingy to her stomach.

"Oh my God, I need to go so bad…" Bella groaned doubling over and wrapping her arms around herself.

"Don't think about it," I offered, although I knew it was the poorest advice I could give.

"Ha!" Bella laughed at me, "You're funny."

"I think so,"

"Edward," Bella growled at me as a warning not to laugh at her situation any further.

"Sorry," I apologized under my breath. Bella started whimpering beside me. "Sweetheart, honestly the best thing is to just not think about it."

Bella didn't answer me and just got up and walked up to the desk. "Is there any way that I can go just a little bit before she sees me?"

The receptionist shook her head sadly, "Sorry, no. You need to have a completely full bladder."

Bella groaned again in discomfort and walked back to her seat and crossed her legs. "Think of it this way," I leaned over whispering to her, "when you see the image of our babies on that screen you won't be thinking about having to pee anymore."

The door to the back exam rooms opened and an aid stood there with a clipboard. "Bella Cullen," she called out softly. Bella practically hit the ceiling she jumped out of her chair so fast.

"This won't take very long, and then you can have the bathroom all to yourself for however long you need it." The aid promised and showed us to a small area with a scale, blood pressure machine, and other medical apparatuses. She used each one on Bella and recorded the information down. All initial procedure I was sure.

Next she led to a private room where an ultrasound machine was set up and waiting. She asked Bella to lie down on the bed and make herself comfortable, and that Doctor Webber would be right with us. I took the seat next to her.

"Excited," I asked as she laid down on her back.

Bella pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, a habit she had picked up from me whenever I was stressed. "I really just want to pee right now."

I tried to hide a laugh, but again I failed. "I'm going to make you hold it one day, Edward Cullen. I'm going to make you drink thirty-two ounces of coffee and then hold it for an entire day. I'll keep you home from work, I don't care."

The door opened at that moment as soon as Bella was done threatening me and a very friendly brunette walked in with a file and set it down on the table. "Hello, I'm Angela Webber, how are we?" She asked as she settled down on the stool in front of the ultrasound machine.

"I think my bride here is going to kill me if I speak another word, so…" I put my hands up in defense and scooted away from Bella chuckling, but scooted back a second later.

"I'll make this quick for you, I'm sure your absolutely longing for a toilet right now." Dr. Webber said apologetically. "All of my first timers are exactly like you."

Bella nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, but I'm sure come time for me to actually bring these babies into the world this is going to seem like a walk in the park."

"Yes, it will." Angela agreed. "All right," she picked up a tube from the machine, "Going to warn you, this is cold. Can you pull your shirt up for me," she asked.

Bella fixed her shirt so it was hiked to her ribs and she shimmied her shorts down a little as well. She flinched when Dr. Webber squirted the thick blue gel onto her stomach.

She flipped the machine on and used the scanning device to smooth the gel around before locating what looked to me like a big black blob on the screen, which turned out to be Bella's very full bladder. From there she moved the scanner down and found her uterus.

Two white figures stood out amongst the blackness. Dr. Webber pushed a couple buttons on the keypad explaining as she did so that she was taking measurements. "All right, here is the first one," she pointed to a rounder part of one of the figures. "That's the head,"

I heard Bella sniff and I reached over to slide my hand into hers, the other reaching up to wipe away the tear sliding down her face.

"And here's the second, see, there's the head. And it looks to me, since I see no signs of male reproductive organs here, that you're having twin girls. But I'll just double check to be sure."

Bella looked over at me and smiled brightly. I got up from my chair and leaned over to kiss her forehead. As I settled back down Dr. Webber confirmed that Bella was carrying twin girls.

"That should be fun when they hit puberty." I mumbled.

Bella threw me a look, but she laughed quietly. "Can we please wait until they're born before we start assuming what they'll be like as they grow up?"

"You can usually tell a lot about your baby while it's still in utero." Dr. Webber explained with a light laugh.

"Then our girls are going to love pushing each other around, look at them." Bella exclaimed as she smiled at the screen, where the two white figures were moving around together quite a bit. "I can't feel them though,"

"Not yet, it may be a couple weeks too soon since this is your first pregnancy. I've had some mothers tell me tell me they can feel their child quicken as early as fourteen weeks. So, you're still a little early. You never know, though, maybe in a couple weeks you'll feel something. It'll be like a little fluttering sensation. And eventually you'll feel something like a little flick against the inside of your abdomen, and that'll be your girls kicking, or punching." Dr. Webber explained all of this as she took a few still of the sonogram, a couple more measurements, and switched the machine off finally.

"Everything looks absolutely normal and perfect so far for you, Bella. Your girls are healthy and growing well." She handed Bella some paper towels to clean up with.

Bella sat up wiping the gel off of her stomach and fixed her shirt. "Thank you, that was…Wow,"

"Yes, it's quite overwhelming the first time. I'll meet you both outside to schedule your next appointment." Dr. Webber congratulated us and left the room, but not before pointing to the bathroom in the corner. As soon as she was gone Bella made a mad dash not even bothering with the door.

I paced in a small circle while waiting for her, my mind going over the two little white figures I'd just seen on that screen. Wow, those were my daughters. But they were so…tiny. A few names starting crossing my mind and I combined some to see how they sounded, and tried to come up with a few Bella may like, but I couldn't concentrate. I just wanted to see the printout of the sonogram and take it to my office at the university and proudly hang it for everyone to see.

I was really going to be a father. The thought hit me full on and I felt some moisture fill my eyes. I stood there in the middle of the room with tears running down my face. The next thing I felt was a pair of arms around my waist. I turned to envelope Bella in a full embrace. I hadn't even heard the toilet flush I had been so consumed in my thoughts.

"I really can't believe this," I whispered stroking Bella's hair. I dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"I can't either. But this just makes it so real."

I tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to mine. I kissed away the tears running down her face before I kissed her lips. "I love you more than anything. I love you so much, Isabella."

"I love you too, Edward."

We stood there holding each other for a moment before we realized we needed to go outside and make our next appointment. "Do you feel better?" I asked as we left the room.

"Yes, much," Bella said enthusiastically. "God, my bladder is going to be traumatized from now on."

"Just weight until you feel like you a bowling ball sitting on your bladder." I teased.

"Shut up," Bella smirked at me.

We met Dr. Webber at the desk and she listed a couple of dates over the next three months that we could come in and we chose one around the time that Bella would be about twenty-one weeks along. It was the day before her birthday. It couldn't be more appropriate.

"You two will be very excited to hear then that by the time you come in for your next appointment, you'll be able to hear their heartbeats."

I reached down and grabbed Bella's hand. That was one thing I had been looking forward to since she told she was pregnant. I simply couldn't wait. We thanked Dr. Webber for her help and she handed us a printout of the sonogram that had three copies and left the office smiling into each other's eyes. Nothing could destroy the perfection of this moment between us.

Bella never glowed brighter than she did now, and she had never been more beautiful. Light was dancing in her eyes as I drove us to the grocery store. We actually did need some basic necessities and I owed her Twinkies for being a jerk earlier. She wound up getting those, Ring Dings, Yodels, and Devil Dogs. I knew for sure that the boxes of goodies would last a couple months, and even longer if we kept them in the freezer, which was my overall plan. No was Bella going to enjoy all those cakes without me getting one.

"Thank you," Bella whispered to me leaning over to kiss my neck in the car as we finally headed home.

"For what, junk food?"

"No, for giving me everything I've ever wanted, and more."

I looked over at her, noticing that her Twinkie lay unopened in her lap and her hand was pressed to her slight bulge. I reached over and grabbed it lacing our fingers so they lay twined together on her growing stomach.

"I give in return what I receive," I said back to her. I heard Bella sniff and reached up to caress away the tear that had fallen. She smiled brightly at me and laughed. Now was another perfect example of her emotions being all over the place.

We basked in our little moment for a few more quiet seconds and then Bella let my hand go and I had to laugh as I heard plastic tearing. "Good," I asked looking at her as she finally took a bite from her beloved and longed after Twinkie.

Bella nodded to me with her mouth full of cream and yellow cake. "Mm, hm." She smiled after swallowing down the big bite. "The best,"

A/N: I've actually had to have an ultrasound, so I know how agonizing it is to have to hold your pee for an extended amount of time, and it is NOT fun. So I enjoyed writing this immensely, because this is exactly how I was, however I was having an ultrasound for my ovaries, and not any other reasons. But I didn't go for Twinkies when I was done, I needed something a little more comforting and filling. I went to Panera Bread and got baked potato soup in a bread bowl and good God was it delicious.


	4. Baths, Sunflowers, and Little Nudgers

**A/N: Chapter 4, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

Today was the last day of my summer classes and I was so eager to get home to my wife and cook her a romantic dinner. I had everything planed out for a perfect evening; I stopped and bought groceries to make Bella's favorite chicken dish, got candles for the table and bottle of sparkling grape cider. I even stopped at a florist and picked up a bouquet of sunflowers for Bella.

I pulled into the driveway of our house with a broad and excited smile, and an obvious spring in my step as I glided through the front door. These days I didn't know who had more of the pregnancy glow, Bella or me.

But when I got into the kitchen I was greeted with a mess and a pounding heart. There was a burnt grilled cheese sandwich in pieces on the floor alongside the pan it had been frying in, and a massive pile of used tissues lay on the counter; the empty box thrown to the floor.

"Bella," I called through the house as I set everything but the flowers down. They were a little awkward to carry because the stems were so long. "Bella," I called again moving toward the bedrooms at the back of the house.

Bella was sitting on the side of the bed facing away from me, Aro lying beside her facing the door. As soon as I walked in and started to approach Bella he sat up and growled at me.

"Hey, what's with the attitude?" I snapped at him. Aro just flashed his teeth at me and barked.

"Aro, stop it, it's just Edward," Bella said quietly, her voice rough. She must've been crying for at least a half hour.

She turned to face me and Aro snapped his head in her direction whining. "I'm all right, Aro, just stop and lay down." He looked up at Bella with sad eyes, but did as she asked.

I started walking over to her again and he growled softly as I approached her, but I gave his behind a tap and he stopped. He knew I meant business when his butt got tapped. I left the sunflowers on the end of the bed and sat beside Bella wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Her hands were cradling her pregnancy bulge and she was still crying.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" I asked pressing her head against my chest.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just having a stupid mood swing. I snapped at the model that came in today to get some shots done for her agency and I think I made her cry. Alice told me to go home and relax. She understands that I can't help it."

I laughed lightly about Bella making a model cry. She must have really been peeved for that to happen. "Oh, baby," I pulled her into my lap.

"Then I tried to make myself lunch and Alice called me while I was in the middle of it checking up on me and I wound up burning my sandwich. And I got really, really pissed off and threw it on the floor and when I went to yank tissues out of the box they all came out at once and that pissed me off even more…" Bella ranted on without breathing and ended with a hysterical cry and burst of tears.

"All right, all right." I whispered soothingly to her. "It's all right, everything's going to be fine. It's tissues and a sandwich." I rubbed her back and kissed her neck as she latched onto me. Aro lay beside us whining loudly simply because Bella was crying and he knew something was wrong although he couldn't understand what.

"I got you something pretty," I offered once Bella seemed to calm down sufficiently.

"Really," she asked sounding excited.

I reached over and grabbed the sunflowers and presented them to her. Her eyes lit up when she saw the happy, yellow, flowers and threw her arms around me kissing me passionately.

"Thank you, baby," she whispered in my ear. "They're beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you." I leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "Are you hungry for dinner?"

"How long have we been in here."

"A couple hours now. Don't look like that, you can't help it." I said once guilt crossed Bella's features. "Come on, I'm making your favorite tonight, and I even got candles and sparkling cider so you can pretend its wine."

I grabbed Bella's hand and led her out into the main house with Aro following closely on our heels. I let him out back to do his business and got his dinner ready while watching Bella arrange the sunflowers in a very tall vase and she placed them on the end table in the entrance hall.

I quickly cleaned up the mess on the kitchen floor and tossed out all of the used tissues before unloading the groceries bags and organizing what I needed to make lemon chicken and brown rice with. Bella let Aro in and placed his dinner down on the floor in front of him, which he started to wolf down almost immediately.

"Easy boy, slow down," I said to him when he gagged a little. "Bella, are you all right?" I looked up at her and noticed the pale shade of green she was turning.

"Excuse me," she covered her mouth and rushed out of the room. I could hear her throwing up in the small bathroom twenty feet away and felt sorry for her.

"Now look what you did eating that fast," I said to Aro, "You made her sick instead of yourself. I mean granted, at least she does it in a toilet instead of all over the carpet like you do." And I laughed to myself.

"I'm glad my suffering entertains you." Bella spat at me as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Oh baby, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry," I called after her as she stormed toward the bedroom and slammed the door.

"See the trouble you get me into, man? Not only do you start favoring her now just because she's pregnant, but know you've turned her against me."

Aro laid down on the floor and gave me a look that said, 'Yeah, yeah just blame it on me that's what you always do'.

I wiped my hands off on a dishtowel and turned the heat down on the stove so the vegetables that were steaming didn't overcook. I walked back toward the bedroom and as soon as I reached for the knob the door flew open and Bella stood there.

I had to look her up and down and smile at her sixteen-week bulge that was starting to strain against her t-shirt. It was almost time to invest in maternity clothes. I walked forward and wrapped my arms around her pulling her into a hug.

"I sincerely don't mean any harm when I say things like that, I swear." I said stroking her hair.

"I know, I'm just overly sensitive right now. But that doesn't mean that you should do it. This," Bella motioned to her rounded middle, "Is not easy, Edward. And I really don't appreciate you poking fun at me like that. I mean a joke in good taste here and there is ok, but not every time I get sick."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." And I leaned in to kiss her. I got down on my knees in front of her and raised her shirt to expose her swollen tummy. I held it gently between my hands and kissed her bump tenderly. Bella sighed above me and reached down to run a hand through my hair.

"I love all of my girls," I looked up at her sincerely and kissed her belly again. I fixed her t-shirt and got up on my feet. Bella looped her arms around my neck and kissed me soundly.

"And we all love you back," she smiled against my mouth. She parted from me keeping her arms around my neck and leaned in to me, her bump rubbing my abdomen. We just stood there for a long time holding each other.

And then I remembered the vegetables that were steaming on the stove.

I let Bella go and rushed back into the kitchen to find the pot boiling over and hissing steam violently. Bella just laughed at me as I rushed the pot over to the sink to pour cold water on the broccoli and green beans.

"Nice display of cookmanship." Bella commented.

"Is that even a word?" I asked her as I started moving the barely rescued veggies into a bowl of ice water to shock them and make the bright color stay.

"I say it is," Bella laughed as she sat down at the table. Good, I wanted her to relax. "How was your last day?" She asked me.

"Uneventful," I answered simply. "The only students that needed to show up were those whom I gave a second chance to for a better final performance."

"And how many of those were there?"

I walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and took the bottle of sparkling cider that was chilling in an ice bucket and popped it open pouring Bella a glass. "Here you are, my dear. Pretend wine."

"Thank you, sir," Bella said playfully and grabbed my ties wrapping it around her hand and pulled me down for a searing kiss.

"Save some of that for later," I warned her a moment later as I was walking back over to check the chicken that was sautéing.

"The juice or the libido?"

"The crap excuse for alcohol…Your freaking inhuman sex drive, Bella. Come on," I played with her. She just smiled impishly at me and sipped her grape juice winking at me over the brim of the glass.

That was all it took to make my pants feel one size too small.

"Nope, this one is the best," Bella commented as she flipped the album of pictures Alice had brought outside. She had invited Bella and I over for a poolside lunch and had a very special surprise waiting for us. A completed album of pictures she had taken of Bella and I shortly after Bella told me she was pregnant.

The one Bella was currently gushing over was of the two of us lying in bed together naked, but half covered by the sheet. I was holding Bella against my chest and gazing up at the ceiling with a small smile and Bella was looking at the camera. Actually in most of the pictures Bella was looking at the camera and I was either looking at her or somewhere else, only in a very pictures was I actually looking at the camera.

Alice, Bella, and I had agreed upon another shoot once Bella was further along and had a rounder belly. I couldn't wait for those. I was so excited to see her fully round and doing the 'pregnant waddle' that my mother had told me about. She assured me that Bella would most definitely be doing it once her belly started to stick out more.

"I don't know…I like that one a lot. I love how the light from the bedroom window falls on you, you look beautiful. But I think I'm more partial to this one." I turned the page and pointed to the picture that Alice dressed and choreographed.

She had put Bella in a white dress and me in a black suit and had us completely wrapped around each other. Bella was lying across my back and I had her thigh raised up to my face. It was a sensual yet tender picture.

"No, you're both wrong," Alice called as she walked from her house with a bowl of fruit salad in her hand. She placed it down on the table and Bella immediately fixed herself a plate and dug in. "This one is the best," Alice said turning a couple more pages and pointed to a picture where I was sitting up and Bella relaxed between my knees, wrapping herself around my left leg and smiled softly at the camera.

Bella looked at the picture and cooed for a moment before placing her hand gently on her protruding belly. I reached over and placed mine on top of hers. "So when do you want to do the next shoot?" Alice asked as she served up a bowl of fruit salad for me.

"Thank you, um…What do you think, Bella?" I asked looking at her.

"What am I now almost eighteen weeks?"

"Yeah, and we're due in January." I confirmed spearing some melon and mango on my fork.

"How about around Christmas then, that'll make some really nice pictures if we get a little festive."

"I agree," Alice said as she chewed on some banana and pineapple. "I'm going to go check on Jasper and make he hasn't burned the Panini sandwiches. Would you two like any salad, we found this recipe for one that's very refreshing?"

"Sure," Bella nodded looking from taking more fruit.

"How are you feeling?" I asked once we were alone. Bella took a couple forkfuls of fruit before answering me.

"How do mean?" She asked with a full mouth.

"About the girls, about having them and starting a family. How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Honestly," Bella asked looking me in the eye.

"Of course,"

She reached for her iced tea and took a long sip. "I'm scared," she said quietly. "I'm scared of childbirth, I'm scared that I'm going to be a horrible mother and not know what to do. But every woman feels like that right? When she's pregnant for the first time and has her doubts?"

I just gazed at Bella for a long moment as she sat there in the sunlight, almost basking in its warmth. She had always had a slight aversion to the sun, but now she seemed to crave its light, and she positively sparkled in her pregnancy glow.

"Bella," I said reaching out and taking both of her hands in mine, my thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of them, "I'm scared, too. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I know that no matter what we're in this together and we have each other to lean. You know that." I reached up and cupped the side of her running my thumb across her cheekbone.

Bella reached up and placed her hand over mine. "I do, but I'm still scared." She admitted to me softly. I leaned in and placed a gentle on her lips.

"Then we'll be scared together." I said quietly. We sat there smiling softly at each other, our foreheads touching and our lips meeting every few seconds in another kiss of reassurance.

Alice and Jasper walked back outside a couple minutes later just as we broke apart and sat up straight in our chairs. Alice carried a very green salad that had cranberries, almonds, and mandarin oranges in it, and Jasper carried the white meat chicken Panini sandwiches.

"What spread did you put on those?" Bella asked pulling her chair in. I could see her practically drooling over the sandwiches. They did smell wonderful.

"Chipotle, I hope that's all right, it's not too hot. There's also sundried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil."

"Just give me one before I tear it off the plate." Bella threatened. Jasper took Bella's plate and placed a sandwich on it giving it back to her with a smile.

"Eat it slowly and enjoy it, and don't judge me. I just learned to make these today." He winked at her.

Conversation over lunch was light and consisted mostly of us discussing names for the twins. We still hadn't told any one that both were girls. We were keeping that to ourselves until they were actually here. Of course Jasper blurted out that he and Emmett had a bet going about what the sexes would be.

"You should've heard some of the innuendoes he was throwing around last weekend at the bar. Nobody would've guessed that we were talking about unborn children. That man seriously has a dirty mind."

"He was drinking," Alice pointed out.

"No, that has nothing to do with it." I added as I poured Bella some more iced tea. "Emmett has always been like that. He's just a big kid at heart., but with a slightly more provocative mind"

"He does give the best bear hugs." Bella admitted. "The last time I could scarcely breathe and had to squeak out, 'pregnant woman hear, Emmett', and he let me go. I don't think he even realizes he does that. But what exactly does your bet entail?"

"Well, I think you're having twin boys. You just look like you're carrying boys. Emmett thinks it will be one of each, and he started going on about how Edward was going to have competition."

Bella and I looked at each other and both of us had our eyebrows raised in confusion. "I don't get it." I said after a minute.

"For her…uh, boobs." Jasper blurted out turning a bright shade of red.

"Oh…" Bella giggled leaning back in her seat. She hummed playfully and threw her feet up in my lap. I knew what that meant.

"Pssh...please," I said confidently waving one hand in the air as I pulled Bella's sandals off with the other. I started rubbing her feet and her head fell back against the chair as she moaned in gratitude. Her belly was clearly showing under her purple t-shirt.

"Have you felt them kick yet?"

"What," Bella asked picking her head up and looking at Alice, who had asked the question.

"Have they started kicking yet?"

"Not yet," Bella confirmed as she laid her hand on her stomach. "But soon, according to the research I've done. I found this fantastic website that goes week by week, so I know everything that's going on."

"And that pile of books you made me pick up. The cashier at the counter gave me the oddest look when I walked up with ten books on pregnancy and two books on fathering."

"Well, I would have picked them up myself if you would let me carry them." Bella insisted.

"Nope, sorry not happening. No heavy carrying for you."

Bella just crossed her arms over her chest, which was also swelling right along with her belly, and pouted at me turning her nose up in the air. "Fine be a jerk," she pouted.

"I will, you know my rules. No heavy lifting, no excessive climbing of stairs, and no late hours at work."

"I'm not made of glass, Edward."

"But you're carrying my children. And I want all three of you kept safe. You mean the world to me."

That melted her right away. Bella leaned over in her chair and grabbed my face kissing me soundly right in front of Alice and Jasper. I noticed when we parted that the two of them were talking with their heads bowed together giving us some privacy. This was why I preferred to hand out with my sister rather than my brother.

After such a light and fun lunch Alice suggested that we all just sit around the Jacuzzi in their pool and soak our feet. Bella hopped up eagerly and walked over to the water sticking her feet right in.

We talked endlessly for the next hour letting lunch digest. Bella couldn't stop going on about the sandwiches and started nagging me for a Panini press. I kept telling her no but I knew one day next week I would stop at the local kitchenware store to find the exact same one that Jasper and Alice had.

It was close to three in the afternoon when we finally returned home and Bella asked me to run a hot bath for her since her back ached a little and her feet ached a lot. I offered to do not just that, but also take the bath with her.

Once the water was at the temperature I knew Bella liked I added a more than sufficient amount of her favorite lilac scented bubble bath and swirled my hand around in the water until the frothy white bubbles were everywhere. Bella, having smelled the perfume from the bedroom, came in, in just her bathrobe.

I took the time to pull it off of her slowly and then removed my clothes as well and scooped her up bridal style and stepped into the hot water settling down with Bella between my knees and leaning back against my chest.

I rubbed her shoulders for several minutes, slowly working out all of the tension and then I moved my hands to her sides. I held her hips and leaned forward placing soft kisses on the back of her neck. "Feeling better," I asked as I reached up onto the in-wall shelves and grabbed Bella's favorite bath sponge.

"Yeah, I am no, thank you. Oh!"

"What, what is it, what's wrong?" I asked dropping the sponge and taking hold of Bella's upper arms.

"Nothing, quick give me your hand." Bella grabbed my hand under the bubbles and leaned back into me pressing my hand firmly to her stomach. "Do you feel that?"

I waited and was silent but felt nothing. "No,"

Bella put a finger to her mouth and shushed me and pressed my hand more firmly to her stomach. We sat there in complete silence for a very long minute, but then I felt it; two light taps against my hand, one right after the other. And then I felt something move.

"Whoa, oh my God, was that one of the babies?"

"Yup," Bella smiled brightly.

"Wow," I breathed. I brought my other hand around and cradled Bella's stomach between my palms. I could feel one, or maybe both, of them moving around a little. It felt like maybe they were trying to get comfortable. "They feel strong."

"They feel good," Bella whispered. "They're my little nudgers now."

A/N: Profile update!

I've provided pictures from the 'photo shoot' that Bella and Edward did with Alice. Just copy and paste the links. I will provide more pictures for the next 'photo shoot' as well.

Thanks everyone, please review on your way out!


	5. Calling Dr Cullen

**A/N: Chapter 5, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

I was out of classes for two weeks, two unbelievable, wonderful weeks with my wife, and now I'm back to it again. It's September, a new year, a new semester, and new students. Bella and I were going in for her second trimester sonogram next week and I was going to have to announce to my students today that class that day would be cancelled.

Since it was back to regular scheduling I was now teaching Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, three classes a day, and an extra five hours of office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays each. Bella wasn't overly thrilled with my new schedule this year, but that's what happens when you get promoted to department chair.

When I got the call last week that the head of the music department was moving on and I was going to be taking her place I was thrilled. I couldn't have asked for better news, except maybe something from Bella about the babies, but she had been just as enthusiastic about my promotion and we made love that night to celebrate.

I walked into my new, personal office this morning carrying a box of everything from my previous cubicle and set it down on the low round table in the middle of the room. Kate followed after with another box containing my files and books that I would need.

"Thanks, Kate, I appreciate the help."

"Not a problem, it's just a small walk from one side of the department office to the other, not even one hundred steps. They're ordering lunch today to celebrate. What do you want?" Kate asked as she walked back to her desk.

"Depends on where they're ordering from." I called as I started setting pictures up on my desk. I put down the first one, my wedding photo, and then beside it a picture Bella and I had taken together on our honeymoon in Italy. We were standing on a beach in our bathing suits hugging each other tightly with the Mediterranean in the background.

Next I put up the framed sonograms Bella had gotten done for me. My finger ran over the first one she had given me the morning she told me the news. Next was her first trimester sonogram. It was much easier to see the heads in this one. I couldn't wait until next week. We would finally get to hear the heartbeats.

"I think they're ordering from that new Chinese place that just opened up across town." Kate said as she walked back in with a menu in her hand.

"Anything with chicken is fine with me." I answered quietly as I stared at the sonograms on my desk.

Kate must have sensed what I was looking at because she asked a moment later, "How is Mrs. Cullen and the future Cullen girls?"

"As perfect as can be expected. She's twenty weeks now, halfway there." I pulled another picture from my box. This was one of the ones Alice had taken during that first shoot. We were standing next to each other against a black background and both of us were looking down at her stomach, although at the time she wasn't showing.

"Is she still working at the studio?"

"Yeah, for another couple of months, actually. Our doctor told her maternity leave would start around thirty to thirty-five weeks depending on how she's feeling."

"How big is she now?"

"Uh…About out to here maybe," I tried to hold my hand out in front of my torso to show how round Bella was now, but I probably failed miserably.

Kate just chuckled and shook her head knowingly. "Oh, crap, I need to get back to work. I have a ton of emails I need to send out." She waved and rushed back to her desk. I could hear the phone ringing in the distance and just smiled to myself.

I grabbed my phone off my desk and checked the time. I had about ten minutes before my first class started so I gathered up the papers I would need and my books and hurried from the office so I could have some time to polish the piano in my room and warm up the keys.

I started with a little Mozart to get the feeling back under my fingers. I hadn't touched my grand piano at home for almost a month. I had been too busy taking care of Bella when she needed it and doing other things around the house. We were starting to baby proof all of the rooms, and decided which of the spare bedrooms was going to become the nursery.

At least we had decided on a theme and would be going to pick out furniture pieces in a couple months. Alice was already planning the baby shower and begged us to know the sexes of the twins so she could put a color scheme together. But we weren't budging on that. Bella simply told her to keep it neutral.

So when Alice had stopped by with different color swatches she had picked up Bella just agreed to everything trying to get Alice to lay off. My little sister was insatiable and I could tell the stress was starting to take a toll on my wife. After Alice left I made Bella lay down in one of the recliners and put her feet up. I turned on the little waterfall next to the chair and poured some scented lilac water into it. Bella was asleep in minutes.

After the Mozart I moved into one of the pieces I had composed myself and played it with as much passion as I could muster. As I brought the piece to a close a round of applause broke out behind me with some whistles. I turned on the bench to greet the twenty something students that had assembled while I was off in my own little world.

"Wow, thank you, I've never been greeted like that before for a first class." Everyone laughed and the sound echoed off the auditorium walls. I requested this room for two good reasons. It had stadium seating and the shape of it provided fantastic acoustics.

"First thing I want everyone who already plays an instrument on this side of the room, and everyone who doesn't on this side." I announced from my seat at the bench. I saw two-thirds of the class get up and carry their instrument cases with them. I recognized violin, flute, guitar, and I think I even spotted clarinet. Others were empty handed so I assumed they either played piano, or their respectful instruments were too cumbersome to bring to class.

The other one-third watched me tentatively as I collected music books from the box I brought with me. "Those of you who don't play an instrument raise your hand if you've ever had experience with piano before." Maybe five people raised their hands. I handed them second level piano books and told them if these were too easy I would give them the next level up.

"I assume then that everyone else has never had experience with an instrument of any kind?"

"Does a Bazooka count?" One boy asked, and the class chuckled. I smiled easily and shook my head.

"Sorry, no." I called back. I handed the rest beginner books for the piano and then went about passing around index cards and instructed all of my students to print his or her name on the card, their email and primary phone number they could be reached at. Once I collected the cards I passed around the syllabus to each student and did the usual thirty-minute speech outlining the requirements and what this class specifically entailed.

"This is going to be a very interesting semester for me this year and if any of you take this class next semester, I'm sure we'll be facing the same situation then that we are now. I will more than likely be absent quite a bit, please no long faces I will have a substitute covering for me, and that is because my wife is expecting twins and will need me home much more in the coming months." I heard a couple of girls coo in their seats and I thanked them. "She's due at the end of January, so again if any of you take this class again with me next year, I may be running out in the middle of a session to take her to the hospital."

I finished with my second speech and announced that now was the time we all got to know each other. I told everyone we would go around the room, starting with myself, and each person was to say their name, something about themselves, what his or her major was, and why they were taking this class.

"You already know my name since it's printed on the syllabus, I play the piano obviously, and…Hm, something actually interesting." That earned another laugh from everyone. "I think I've been playing piano since I could sit up on my own."

I gestured to the girl sitting in the front row who was fingering her syllabus nervously. "Um…Tanya Denali, I'm studying political science, I play the Cello, and I'm taking this class because I miss band from high school."

I gestured to the next person and he introduced himself, going off into a rant that left the entire class howling. After several more minutes of a couple other repeats of the first young man I noticed there was only ten minutes left in the class so I let everyone leave early. Those who played larger instruments I advised them to leave them home for now and be sure to practice throughout the semester.

Once everyone cleared out I sat back down at the piano and started playing the same original composition that I had been warming up with. I didn't hear, or see, the person enter the room behind me, but I felt it. A body sat down on the bench beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Hello, beautiful, what are you doing here?" I turned once I finished playing. I was greeted with Bella's brilliant smile and she leaned in to kiss me.

"Surprise," she whispered.

"It is, but you still haven't answered my question."

"I'm taking you out to lunch, well Emmett and Rosalie are taking us out to lunch. And Nate, too."

"Oh, sorry can't make it. We already ordered lunch today." I pretended to be disappointed and Bella smacked me lightly on my shoulder.

"Jerk, come on, I already talked to Kate. She said she would save your food in the fridge."

"I know, I'm just teasing." I took Bella's face in my hands and kissed her. "How are we today?" I asked pressing my hand to her ever-growing stomach.

"We're good. We're in the mood for seafood, but its forbidden."

"At least for another four months or so." I turned back to the piano and began playing _Moonlight Sonata_, I know after Debussy, Beethoven and Chopin are Bella's favorites.

"When are we leaving?" I asked halfway through the piece.

"We should go now, they have reservations." Bella said standing. I helped her up and gathered everything. Bella offered to carry something but I told her to forget about it. She at least grabbed my laptop case, which wasn't too heavy. It weighed maybe five pounds.

"Thanks for taking care of everything, Kate. We should be back in a couple hours."

"All right, it was great to see you, Bella, you look fantastic." Kate beamed as she covered the mouthpiece of her phone with her hand.

"Thanks, Kate, I wish I felt fantastic." Bella said as she rubbed her belly.

We waved goodbye to Kate as we walked out and I recognized a couple of my students from this morning. They waved to me and I smiled in response. I watched a couple of the girls eye Bella up for a moment and then myself. So it was going to be another one of those semesters.

I prided myself on having eyes for my wife and _only_ my wife, because she was so much more than that to me. She was my bride, the woman I had chosen to spend the rest of my life with, and I had done so without second thought or any hesitation. I loved Bella then when I asked her to marry me, having gotten down on two knees since I knew she deserved more than one. I love her the same way now. I'll never look at another woman the way I look at my Bella.

The drive to the small bistro we were meeting Emmett, Rosalie, and Nate at for lunch was spent in comfortable silence listening to Debussy on my CD player. Bella held my hand the whole ride on the center console, constantly stroking the back of my palm. A couple of times I brought her hand up to my mouth to kiss it and I turned to her to be met with another gorgeous smile. We hadn't seen Rose or Emmett for a couple months. Nate was keeping them consistently busy and always entertained. They refused to have guests over right now since their condo was a disaster from a combination of remolding and Nate running free.

Well, maybe he wasn't running yet, but you know what I mean.

"Bella, holy shit, look at you." Emmett beamed as we approached the table. Rose punched his leg and nodded in Nate's direction. He was too busy fussing with the toy Rose had placed on the high chair table in front of him to notice his father. He kept waving it around and making gurgle noises trying to get everyone's attention.

Emmett wrapped Bella up in a tight hug, and I had to remind him to be gentle. "Oops, sorry, I keep forgetting." He smiled sheepishly at Bella as I pulled her chair out for her.

"You really do look wonderful, Bella. Pregnancy suits you." Rosalie smiled reaching across the table to lay her hand on Bella's.

"Thanks, I feel like I'm carrying a pillow under my shirt."

"That's nothing right now, wait until you reach seven months and you really pop. Right now is going to seem like a breeze. And you're carrying twins, too. It's going to feel like carrying two watermelons."

"Thanks, Rose, I'm really looking forward to that now." Bella deadpanned sarcastically.

We all shared a chuckle and Rose attended to Nate while Emmett, Bella and I chatted waiting for the waitress. She came over a couple minutes later to take drink orders. No one was ready to order yet since we were so busy catching up. I don't even think Emmett and Rose had looked at their menus yet.

"I'm in the mood for a club sandwich," Bella mused as she looked over the sandwich and burger section of the menu.

"So get it,"

"I'd kill for some seafood scampi right now, though."

"I think you can have tuna," Rosalie offered, but not like a fillet or anything, I think it's only the stuff from the can.

Bella's face twisted up in disgust and she mock gagged sticking her finger in her mouth. I chuckled at her lack of enthusiasm and patted her knee. Bella grabbed my hand then and pressed it to her stomach.

"What," I looked at her.

"They're moving around again," Bella whispered to me. I left my hand there for a minute and smiled when I felt the shifting underneath my palm. "I think they're getting cramped."

"I don't think so, not yet. Well, maybe a little." I added at the end when I felt a particularly sharp tap on my palm. "They can hear us, right?"

"Yup," Bella smiled brightly.

"I think I'm going to play the piano tonight for you two," I said to her belly. Bella ran her fingers through my hair and I turned to look at Rose and Emmett who were watching us as if they were engrossed in a film.

"What," I asked as I sat back up in my chair.

"I remember doing that with Rosie," Emmett sighed as he slung his arm around the back of his wife's chair. Rose just beamed brightly at us and then dug around in her baby bag for Nate's lunch.

"We should have lunch together more often." She said as she started to spoon some applesauce into Nate's mouth. She played around with him, making little noises to get his attention and make him want to eat. I watched intently making notes in my mind for future reference.

"And why is that?" Bella asked. I didn't notice her watching me watching Rose and Nate.

"Just take a look at your darling husband," Rose commented as she spooned some more of the applesauce into Nate's mouth. "Nate, don't get testy, just eat it." She cooed at him gently. Rose leaned in and kissed his forehead and Nate suddenly laughed and opened his mouth eagerly for the food. "This is why," Rose pointed out as she took a soft rag from her lap and wiped the corner of her son's mouth. "You two would get the benefit of interacting with a baby and getting a little practice. Speaking of practice, are going to any breathing classes?"

Bella sat back in her chair resting her hand on her stomach. "No, I don't think we will. Mostly because we don't have the time, and if we chose to do something like that I would want it to be together."

"I could always take you," Rose offered.

Bella looked over at me, hesitating before she answered. I simply nodded my consent. "Uh...All right, I would appreciate that, Rose, thank you."

"Sure, not a problem. There's a Lamaze class that meets in the same building as my yoga class on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. It's actually right after, so if you want you can sign up for both, that's what I did, and they offer a yoga class for pregnant women as well. It's very relaxing and helps relieve a lot of tension. I know Alice has been driving you crazy." Rosalie chuckled as she wiped some more applesauce from chin with her finger and tried to get it into his little mouth.

"I would be able to make the Saturday classes with you, baby." I offered. "I don't have anything to do on Saturdays except grading, but that won't be starting for a while."

Bella accepted the offer from Rose and was more than thrilled that she and I would be able to do some, if not all, of the classes together. "If you want, you can start tomorrow." Rose said as she put away the food for Nate.

"I usually drop her off and pick her up. I think the yoga is from ten to eleven and the class is from eleven-thirty to twelve-thirty. We can go back to our house for lunch after and have a good baby convo."

Bella laughed whole-heartedly and her entire face lit up. I reached over taking her hand and lacing our fingers. So it was agreed that she would start some breathing classes. I knew it would be more than good for her. And if we could just shake Alice off for a little while everything would be near perfect.

"Today was a good day," Bella commented later that evening, as we were getting ready for bed. "I think the girls really enjoyed that lullaby you played on the piano. They're very subtle tonight. I may actually get some real rest."

Bella pulled her nightgown on and I watched her reflection in the bathroom mirror as I brushed my teeth. She pulled the blanket back on the bed and started to sit down. But she grabbed at her stomach and winced a little bit. The toothbrush fell from my hand and I ran out into the room to hold her.

"What's wrong," I asked frantically as Bella started to sit down on the bed. "What hurts?"

"Just my abdomen, it's fine, Edward. It's normal."

"I'm calling my dad." I said getting up and I grabbed my cell off my nightstand and hit his number on the speed dial.

"Edward, I'm telling you its normal, I'm fine. Ow," Bella winced again as she tried to sit up.

"Normal, ok, then why are you in pain?"

"I'm pregnant," Bella answered, as if it was so damn obvious. Well, it was, but she was having pain in her abdomen. "Really, Edward, this isn't the first time."

"What?" I half shouted at her, I could feel my eyes bugging out.

"Edward," My father asked in my ear. I didn't even hear him pick up the phone. "What is it son?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear you. Uh, Bella is having pain in the sides of her abdomen. Do I need to take her to the hospital?"

"How sharp is the pain?"

"She's just wincing, but it's not bad. Should I take her to the ER, I mean abdominal pain isn't good right?"

"It depends on the pain, Edward." Carlisle explained slowly. "There is some pain that's normal with pregnancy, especially if it's a woman's first. And since that's the case with Bella, she will be experiencing what's called round ligament pain. It's caused by the uterus expanding to make room for the fetus, or in Bella's cases fetuses. She should be feeling some soreness or twinges on the sides of her abdomen. She's going to be experiencing a little bit more than what's typical because she's carrying twins and her uterus needs to make twice the room, but it's perfectly normal and should subside with enough rest."

"But she's ok, right, I mean nothing is wrong with the babies?" I confirmed.

"No, Edward, nothing is wrong. However, if the pain doesn't subside with rest you should take her to her doctor immediately."

"You're sure,"

"Edward, yes. Calm down take a breath. It's late you should both be asleep. Bella needs plenty of rest of now."

"You're right. I'm sorry," I breathed into the phone. I felt Bella's hand on my back rubbing soothing circles.

"It's all right, Edward. You would know if something was wrong, and I'm sure Bella would tell you immediately if that was the case."

"I know, thank you, dad. Sorry to bother you."

"Don't worry, Edward. Get some rest, we'll see you both over the weekend for Bella's birthday."

"Bye dad thanks again."

"Good night son, give Bella my love."

"I will, bye."

I hung up my phone and turned to my wife. "Sorry, I'm really nervous with everything. I just wanted to make sure."

"It's all right, hon. Maybe if you read some of those pregnancy books you would know that it was normal." Bella teased me as she stroked my hair.

"I'll start bringing them to work." I answered seriously. "Kate should get a real laugh out them."

"I like her a lot. I want her to come to the baby shower."

"She'll really appreciate that. I'll extend the invitation when we set a date."

"Good, now come cuddle with me. Your girls need a hug."

I laughed lightly and yawned as I reached over to shut the lights off. Bella lay down on her side facing away from me and I spooned up behind her wrapping my arm around and slipping my hand under her nightgown to stroke her belly. We fell asleep like that, happy and content, although both of us knew that things were really going to start getting crazy soon.

I was looking forward to it; it was all part of having a family.

A/N: Thanks to everyone! Hope you liked this chapter. I think Spazward is so cute.


	6. Heartbeats

**A/N: Chapter 6, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

I just sat there watching her sleep; watching the little piece of hair that had fallen across her eyes and was billowing softly as she breathed. She was clutching one of the fluffy white pillows to her chest and had her leg thrown across it.

I had intentionally put it there just a couple minutes ago, replacing my own body. I was very careful not to wake her, sine today was her birthday and I wanted her to sleep in. I was going to make her a wonderful breakfast that we could share together in bed and then I thought maybe we could go lay out back in the hammock with one of her favorite books before we had to go to our appointment.

The ultrasound had originally been scheduled for yesterday, but Dr. Webber's office called us yesterday as we were about to walk out the door to drive over and apologized profusely and asked if we could reschedule the appointment for today instead. Dr. Webber had been called to the hospital on an emergency. Bella agreed wholeheartedly and gushed after we got off the phone that she couldn't ask for a better birthday present.

I smiled softly from where I sat on the floor watching her sleep. She was so beautiful. Even with her hair all rumpled from sleep and some lines across her skin where she had slept on the sheet. I finally managed to tear myself away after watching her sleep for more than twenty minutes, and trekked downstairs to start breakfast.

I was just flipping the first pancakes on the griddle when I heard movement upstairs and groaned to myself. I removed the pancakes and quickly checked the raspberries in the saucepot that I was reducing down into a sauce with sugar, and headed for the stairs. Bella was just pulling on a pair of a jeans that Esme had recently taken out for her and a cotton t-shirt over her head. Her hands paused at her bulging stomach to cradle it for a moment as she stroked her bump lovingly through her t-shirt.

"You were supposed to stay in bed, dear." I said from my stance in the doorway. I leaned against the post with my arms folded across my chest, dishtowel thrown over my shoulder.

"Sorry to disappoint," Bella crossed the space between us and kissed me lightly, standing up on her toes to wrap her arms around neck. My arms slipped easily around her waist and I held her against me. "I had to pee," she whispered as we parted.

"Do you feel better?"

"Definitely,"

I rested my forehead against hers as we just stood there. I pressed my hand to her burgeoning belly and rubbed gently. "How are we this morning?"

"Excited, I can't wait. What's that smell?"

"I'm making breakfast,"

"I smell raspberries."

"Yes you do,"

Bella stood up on her tiptoes and kissed me again. "Thank god, I'm starving." She brushed past me after another quick peck and headed for the stairs. I smirked to myself and followed after her.

The raspberry sauce was almost done now but I still had an entire batch of pancakes to cook off. Bella was standing eagerly at the griddle, drumming her fingers on the counter. "I figured you wouldn't let me cook seeing as it's my birthday, so here I am waiting slow poke."

"You figured right, now go sit down and I'll make you a cup of tea."

"I want coffee,"

I ladled some batter onto the griddle and shook my head as Bella sat down at the table. "You can't drink coffee, remember."

"I know," Bella sighed wistfully, letting her head fall into her hands.

"So, do you want your presents now or later?" I offered in an attempt to cheer her up.

As expected, Bella's head picked up and she eyed me cautiously. "We said we weren't doing presents this year and that meant my birthday and Christmas considering the expense of what the girls are going to cost us."

"Money has no meaning when it comes to family."

"That's very true, but assuming what you just proposed is true that would mean you technically cheated and I can get you something for Christmas."

I put my hands up in surrender. "You caught me, although I _technically_ didn't spend any money."

Bella's brow furrowed and she eyed me even more, crossing her arms over her round breasts. If there was one thing I enjoyed watching as round as Bella's stomach, it was her breasts. Yeah, yeah, a typical male response. So sue me.

I help up one finger and quickly dashed to my office to grab my MacBook and came back into the kitchen setting it on the table and turned it on. I instructed Bella to go to a website, giving her the address. She typed it in and I moved to stand behind her as I found my way through the site to what I wanted to show her.

"What do you think?" I asked standing back. Bella just stared at the pictures of the nursery theme I had discovered. I thought it would be perfect considering we were keeping the gender of the babies a secret, so the theme was pretty neutral. The walls would just need to be painted something pale. But before we could do that, we needed to decide on a room.

"It's perfect, Edward. I love it, thank you." Bella got up from her seat and reach her arms up around my neck to hug me. I hugged her back. "Oh, they're awake." Bella exclaimed as her hand dropped to her stomach. She rubbed it soothingly for a moment and then looked back up to me with a smirk, "You better finish breakfast soon before they start nagging for food. I don't like being kicked first thing in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am," I answered sarcastically, and returned to the stove to finish my pancakes while Bella continued to pour over the pictures of different nursery themes on the website.

After breakfast we decided that it was too humid out today to lay in hammock and agreed to stay inside. Bella reclined on the chaise beside my piano and I played a soft concert of my own compositions for her and the girls. Bella giggled halfway through one song and pressed her hand to her stomach.

"They're keeping rhythm," she smirked at me.

"Well that's a good sign." I commented, taking my eyes off the keys for a moment to beam at my wife. I looked over at the clock noticing that we would need to leave in a few minutes. I brought the current song to a close and told Bella to make sure she finished her water before we left. I helped her up from the chaise and she waddled, yes she's finally waddling, into the kitchen to fetch another glass of water. I wiped down the keys and closed the top over them before giving my piano an appreciative pat.

I just hoped our girls would be as moved and as in love with music as Bella and I.

I just also hoped they didn't nag and complain as much as Bella. I know it's just her pregnancy getting to her, but she knows this time what it feels like to have a full bladder and not being able to pee. I kept my mouth shut this time, preferring not to incur her wrath.

We only had to wait briefly this time since Dr. Webber was actually ahead today. She'd had a cancellation earlier this morning and it worked in our favor. "How is everything going?" she asked as we all walked into the room. I helped Bella onto the chair and Dr. Webber tilted it back so Bella was lying down.

"We're doing fine." Bella answered as she pulled her shirt up. I smiled at the bulge.

"You're growing quite round. You look perfectly healthy." Dr. Webber complemented as she squeezed some of the blue gel onto Bella's stomach. She flipped the machine on and started moving the scanner across Bella's abdomen. "I think it would be wise to start investing in some maternity clothes."

"I'll have my sister-in-law take me." Bella promised.

"All right, here we go." Dr. Webber said as she located our twins. "Very beautiful, they look perfectly healthy."

Bella grabbed for my hand as we watched our girls squirm around on the screen. "They're very energetic. Are you getting much sleep at night?"

"Not as much as I used to. But it's totally worth it." Bella smiled at me.

"Well, everything looks absolutely wonderful here. I just need to take a few measurements and then we can get to the good part." Dr. Webber typed away on the keyboard for a minute and told us she would have some printouts made of different angles for both girls. "Are you two ready?" she asked, her finger on a switch.

Bella grabbed for my hand again and I sat down in the chair at her head. She clasped my hand between both of hers and nodded. I could already see tears forming in her eyes. Dr. Webber pressed the switch and suddenly a soft thrumming filled the room. At first I thought there was an echo, but then I remembered there were two separate heartbeats.

One of Bella's hands came up to her mouth and she was visibly crying now, tears sliding down her cheeks as the sound of our babies' heartbeats continued on. It could only be described as a 'whir' sound, or something with a 'w'. It was beautiful. Two distinct and separate sounds, two separate heartbeats.

"Edward, those are our girls." Bella whispered excitedly.

"I know, love." I leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Baby, are you crying?" Bella asked. She looked up at me and wiped away the tears sliding down my cheeks.

"Yeah, I guess I am." I sniffed.

"It's a very emotional and intimate experience the first time, isn't it?" Dr. Webber beamed. "You're girls look wonderful. I don't see any problems, or any difficulties with their developments. How is your diet?"

"Edward keeps me fed on all of the right stuff."

"Excellent. But I would like for you to go the hospital and get some tests done, just to be sure. It's just precautionary."

"We'll do that." I replied quietly. My eyes were completely fixated on our the squirming forms of our daughters as they moved around. Apparently they didn't like to be pushed at with the scanner. Dr. Webber let us listen to their heartbeats for a couple minutes longer, making a short recording of the sonogram for us.

As Bella cleaned up and I helped her to sit up, Dr. Webber explained the tests to us that she wanted Bella to receive at the hospital. She handed us the prescriptions for them as we walked out and we also made a date for our final sonogram for December 29. Bella would be due only a few weeks later, just as classes were starting back up.

We left Dr. Webber's office smiling together; our hands clasped tightly, the pictures and recording safe in Bella's purse. We couldn't wait to share them with out family.

"I know, mom, isn't it amazing?" Bella gushed beside me.

She was in the middle of yet another marathon phone call with her mother. The first couple months of the pregnancy Renee had been unable to lend much support. She and Bella's father hit another rough spot in their marriage, but in the end they worked it out like they always did. Bella's parents loved each other fiercely, so I could easily see where Bella got her passion.

She was standing beside me at the sink drying dishes as I washed them. She had finally managed to send her mother and email with the copied sonograms and the recording of the heartbeats, even through it had been three weeks since the appointment.

"They're absolutely beautiful, sweetheart." I heard Renee coo on the other end. "Charlie's watching the sonogram right now, I think he's crying."

"Put him on the phone." Bella said eagerly. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, Bells,"

I heard Chief Swan sniff loudly on the phone and I smiled to myself, reaching out to slip an arm around Bella's waist. "Baby, I'm so happy for you both." Bella's father said through more heavy sniffs.

"Aw, thanks, dad. Is it bringing back memories?"

"Yeah, I'm just remembering you being that small. I can't believe I'm going to be a grandfather."

"Edward still can't believe he's going to be a father, and he's the one watching me grow rounder and rounder."

"We love the photos that Alice took of the two of you together. Are going to get more done?" Charlie asked.

"Soon, next month some time. Probably around Thanksgiving when we're closed for a few days." Bella handed me back a dish and told me I missed a spot.

"I didn't." I said defensively, handing the plate back to her.

"Hang on, dad, Edward and I are having a debate about his cleaning skills." Bella put her hand to the phone. "Yes you did, it's right there, you don't see it?" She pointed to a little spot on the plate.

"No, I don't see it."

"Don't you know any better than to argue with a pregnant woman?" Bella placed one little on her hip and I started laughing.

She put the phone back to her ear and told her father she would call them both back in a couple days. She bid them both farewells, said 'I love you' and hung up. The next thing I knew she was pitching the cordless phone at my head.

"Bella, come on!" I laughed again.

"This is not funny, Edward!"

She stormed over to the freezer and grabbed a pint of ice cream out. I watched as she grabbed a spoon from the counter drawer and settled herself down in a seat at the island. I felt terrible for laughing at her, but it was just a plate; nothing to get worked up about.

"God I wish you knew how I felt." Bella sighed as she dug into her ice cream.

"I'm sorry." I said softly, walking over to her cautiously. She would never throw the ice cream at me. The spoon maybe, but not the ice cream.

"You don't get it, Edward. I can't help these mood swings, and it doesn't do any good if you just laugh at me. We talked about this."

"I know, I'm really sorry, baby." I came up behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. "But I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the situation.

Bella threw her spoon down on the counter. "It doesn't matter, Edward!" She shouted as she got up throwing my hands off of her.

"Bella, please sit. You need to watch your blood pressure."

Bella sat down and I started to rub her shoulders again. "I'm sorry, Edward. I'm just concerned with those tests that Dr. Webber asked me to get. I want to know the results."

"They said they would call in about two weeks. It's only been nine days, sweetheart. Calm down. I'm sure if there was anything drastically wrong they would call right away."

Just then the phone Bella had thrown rang somewhere off the kitchen. I let go of Bella and walked out into the dining room picking it up. "It's the hospital," I called walking back in and answering the phone.

"Hello,"

"Hi, is Isabella Cullen available, we have the results from her glucose screening and blood test."

"Yeah, she's right here." I handed the phone over to Bella.

"You have the worst possible timing." Bella whispered to me before putting the phone to her ear. I stood behind her and continued to rub her shoulders as she spoke to the friendly woman on the phone. "All right, thank you. Bye," Bella hung up the phone and grabbed her spoon digging once more into her ice cream.

"And…" I asked impatiently.

"Normal, completely normal." Bella breathed as she took a huge, celebratory bite of her Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough.

"See, I told you, nothing to worry about." I gave her a firm hug around her shoulders.

"Yeah…" Bella sighed to herself and let her head fall down into her hand.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I'm scared," I could hear the thickness in her voice. I quickly turned Bella around in her seat and sure enough, large wet tears were sliding down her cheeks. I tucked some of her beautiful auburn hair behind her ear.

"What is it, what's scaring you?"

"Everything has just been so perfect so far, so healthy. I'm just so scared that…that something is going to happen. That our girls…our girls…" Bella's voice wavered at the end and she fell toward me. I caught her and held her as she leaned into me.

"Don't think that, Bella, don't. Be positive. We're doing everything right."

"We could do everything perfectly and there may still be a problem." Bella cried into my shoulder.

"I know, baby. I'm scared, too."

Bella sniffed loudly and picked her head from my shoulder. "You are,"

"Yes, of many things. I'm scared of something happening as well. The thought has crossed my mind many times. I'm scared of whether or not I'll be a good father. I don't think I'm ready. I'm too messy, Bella, too immature."

Bella reached up and wiped away the tears bristling in my eyes. "Hey, if Emmett can do it, you can do it. There's no bigger kid than him."

I chuckled lightly easing some of the tension in the atmosphere and leaned forward kissing Bella lightly, but fully, just brushing my lips against hers. We were broken suddenly from our embrace by a loud bark at the back door. "Oh shit, I forgot to let Aro back in." I said and quickly rushed to the back to let our dog inside. I gave his nighttime cookie and he grabbed it from my hand sauntering off to his bed for the night.

I returned to the kitchen to find Bella putting her ice cream away and washing the spoon off in the sink. When she was done I slipped an arm around her waist and escorted her upstairs to our bedroom. We both desperately a good night's rest. Bella changed for bed quickly and slipped underneath the sheets. I joined her a moment later, spooning up behind her and gathering her into my arms.

"I'm going to sing you to sleep tonight," I whispered to her. Bella nodded against my chest. I pressed one hand to her belly and started to stroke softly as I thought of a song to sing to her. Something peaceful and light, something to help her sleep.

_I was alone  
I was tired but now I'm bound  
My head is off the ground  
For a long time I was so weary  
Tired of the sound, I've heard before  
Knowing of the nights I'm out the door  
Haunted by the things I've made  
Stuck between the burning light and the dusty shade_

I barely made it to the second verse before Bella succumbed to exhaustion and was breathing deep and evenly in sleep. Lately she had begun to snore lightly if she was particularly spent from a long day. Today was no exception. I smiled to myself and leaned over kissing her temple and wishing her a good night. I turned and reached behind to turn off the light on my nightstand and snuggled back up behind Bella wrapping her in my arms.

A/N: Lyrics from "I Was Broken" by Marcus Foster, performed by Rob Pattinson. Up next… Edward begins to have some real "sympathy" pains, and the "Great Pumpkin" makes a guest appearance. LOL, God I need to get a life.


	7. Sympathy Pains

**A/N: Chapter 7, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

Tonight should be interesting. Nothing else needs to be said. It's Halloween, Bella is twenty-eight weeks along and officially wearing maternity clothes. Oh, and she's all pissed and bent at Alice, which is nothing new. Alice had had the grand idea for her Halloween costume for tonight and it had taken some serious persuasion, from me of course, and her own personal Symphony Bar before Bella finally agreed to the hilarious costume.

She and Alice were upstairs right now putting the finishing touches on it. I was in my office responding to some emails from my students about their midterm exams. The midterm was always a written exam on composition, different composers that we studied, and a brief, basic history of music. The final was a performance, and I always met with each of my students individually to discuss what piece he or she would perform for me. It had to be at least three minutes and within his or her playing capability. I would always let them know if what they chose was too simple, or if they weren't ready for a particularly tougher piece that they had in mind.

"Ow! Alice Hale, get the hell out of my bedroom!"

"Oh chill, Bella, it was just a pin. Now hold still and maybe I won't poke you so badly."

"I am holding still, you little pixie. It's the babies that can't hold still."

I finished off my last email and hit send before shutting down my laptop for the evening. I was already half dressed for the party that Alice, Bella, Jasper, Emmett, Rose and I were all attending. I had on my black t-shirt and black pants, and now all I needed were the acrylic fangs Alice had picked up for me and I would be all set.

I dashed upstairs and poked my head in the room. Bella was sitting on the bed breathing heavily, her hand pressed to her stomach and her eyes shut tight. "Bella, what is it?" I asked rushing in there and grabbing her hand.

"Nothing, Alice pricked me a little too hard with the needle and broke the skin. You know how I am around blood. It's just magnified ten fold by being pregnant."

Bella took another couple of breaths and her eyes opened. I was checking to see where Alice had pricked her with the needle and found the tiny little on her upper arm. Alice had been trying to sew a leaf onto the short sleeve of Bella's black t-shirt. It was half done.

"You look hot," Bella mused as she smirked up at me.

"You look hilarious." I retorted. I sat down beside her and pulled my boots out from under the bed. Alice walked back in from the bathroom brandishing a new and thread. "Alice, be gentle please. I don't want to have to rip your head off."

"I am being gentle, Bella won't stop squirming." Alice sat down on the bed and quickly finished sewing the leaf on as I tied up my boots. "Your fangs are in the sink. Be sure to hold them in place for five minutes so they sit straight."

"And how the hell do I get them off at the end of the night?"

"Hot water," Alice called. I watched the reflection in the mirror. Bella's costume was the best I had ever seen. It was just a basic black maternity t-shirt that Alice had sewn a Jack-o-Lantern cut out to and was currently sewing leaves to the vines that crept up the shirt.

I snapped my fangs in and disheveled my hair even more so before grasping the fangs and holding them in place. I was obviously going as a vampire, Bella was The Great Pumpkin. Alice had even ironed on a patch to the back of the shirt that said "Pumpkin Thief – See front for more details"

"Don't you need to get out of here and get dressed?" Bella snapped.

"Pssh, please, my costume takes all of five minutes to put on. It's a short little dress and a pair of wings."

"Baby, are you all right?" Bella asked looking in my direction. I looked up at her.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" But the question came out garbled due to the fangs and my fingers holding them in place as the easy-off glue dried.

"You're rubbing your belly like it hurts."

"Oh, yeah. I guess it does a little. I think I ate too much at lunch."

"Edward, you need to hold onto both fangs, not just one." Alice chided me as she put the finishing touches on Bella's costume. "There, now you're perfect."

"I'm hideous, Alice, how did I ever agree to this?" Bella rose slowly from the bed and waddled over to the flats Alice had out for her. They were a bright green that helped to finish off the green leggings she was wearing underneath her black Bermuda shorts. "I feel like a half leprechaun, half pumpkin beast." Bella complained as she sat back down on the bed.

"You look great, Bella, really." Alice praised as she gathered her things. "I'll see you guys at the party. Don't be late," she called as she as walked out.

"I really hate your sister right now, and I'm pissed about it because I have to work with her and I thought that over the past two years I had gotten over this frustration that occurs whenever I'm around her."

"That takes years, sweetheart, and I mean more than two." I laughed as I finally let go of my fangs. They felt sturdy. I bit down and cursed when the point of one cut into my gum line. "Ow, fuck that hurt." I slurred.

"What are Em and Rose showing up as?"

"Pirates, Emmett's idea."

"What's Jasper doing?"

"No clue, Alice probably planned his outfit to match hers in some way."

Bella laid down on her back and I leaned against the doorpost staring at the large bump that blocker her face from view. God, even in her costume she was absolutely gorgeous. We had only a couple months to go at this point. Bella was due the end of January, by Dr. Webber had told us that most pregnancies never make it to forty weeks; most babies being born at thirty-eight weeks. We were hoping for a full term, although Dr. Webber assured there was a chance of the twins being born at thirty-eight weeks.

Bella wasn't at the point yet where she was ready for this to be over, but I knew she was looking forward to peace and relaxation ahead. Alice was finally letting up on not knowing the gender of the babies, only because we've gone this long without telling anybody. Although tonight she may put in one last effort. Bella's baby shower was next month and we had combined it with Thanksgiving. Her parents had already told us they weren't going to be able to make it and apologized profusely, but they would make it up to us at Christmas since they promised to flight out from Phoenix and stay the week.

Bella couldn't wait. She was hoping to have the nursery completely finished by then. Her baby shower was supposed to be a surprise, but when I let slip to Alice that I showed Bella the theme for the nursery I had picked out, she just came out one afternoon at work and told Bella her baby shower would be at Thanksgiving. So of course we sat down and wrote up a list of things we would needing. Car seats, stroller, cribs, sheet sets and bumpers for the cribs, a rocking chair, dresser and other assorted furniture, etc.

Just last week we had gone over to a baby store in the mall and set up a gift registry like the we had done before we got married. Bella and I spent too, laugh-filled hours perusing the baby section and scanning everything with the guns we were given that we thought looked cute. I made sure to scan maternity clothes that Bella would desperately be needing at that time. Her sizes kept going up. Obviously.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked sitting down beside her form on the bed. I rubbed her belly gently, feeling mine constrict as well. My feet had also been aching like crazy today. I guess listening to Bella complain about how much her feet were hurting was starting to rub off on me.

"Yeah, go downstairs and start the car so it's warm. I'll be down in a minute."

"All right," I leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead before I got up. I left Bella to lay on the bed, probably relaxing her back as well. I grabbed my coat off the rack and threw it on as I headed outside. The night wasn't so cold yet, it was only October. We still had another five weeks before it got really cold outside. But such was the price to live in New England.

I turned the car on and quickly headed back inside. I was hungry. I needed something to eat. I went into the kitchen and searched around in the fridge for something to nibble on. There was an open jar of pickles in the back so I grabbed that and set it down on the counter fishing one out and taking a big bite. I see why Bella is addicted to these.

"Hey, why are you eating my garlic pickles? I thought you said you felt sick?" Bella called as she descended the stairs.

"I did?" I asked, my mouth full.

"Yeah, not ten minutes ago. Are you feeling ok?" She walked up to me and pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. "You don't have a fever."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just hungry."

"You sound like me." Bella laughed.

I just chewed my pickle and took another bite. Bella fished one out of the jar and nibbled the end of it. "Good aren't they?"

"They're freaking delicious, Bella."

"I guess we'll just have to pick up more." Bella took a decent bite of her pickle and walked over to the freezer with it hanging from her mouth. "We need to get more ice cream and we're actually starting to run low on all of those cakes we bought."

"Seriously, those are almost gone?" I asked incredulously as I fished another pickle from the jar. I took a huge bite out of it. What was wrong with me all of a sudden?

"I'm ready to go when you are." Bella said grabbing her coat from the rack and shrugged it on. She had a hard time buttoning it over her twenty-eight week girth, but after a tiny bit of struggling she got it. I was just putting the pickles back in the fridge, making sure they were right in the front for later on.

I got the door for Bella as we walked out making sure it was locked. I doubled checked that Aro was still asleep on his bed in the living room, and then shut the door firmly. "Don't forget the light." Bella called as she walked to the car. I flipped the switch for the outside light and hurried over to the car.

We were only a couple minutes late to the party thanks to our pickle binge. As soon as we walked in the door I grabbed a handful of candy corn from a dish in the hall and escorted Bella through to where we were told to put our coats. The party was being held by one of Alice's friends. She greeted us in the kitchen, and upon noticing Bella's pregnant belly quickly put down one of the drinks she was about to offer us.

"My apologies, and congratulations to you both." She leaned in and kissed Bella's cheek and gave me a warm hug.

"Thanks, Irina. Your house looks spectacular as it always does." Bella completed. Irina offered her a cup of fruit punch instead with a black licorice straw.

"Thanks, I had help this year. My little cousin just started going to the university so she's staying with me. She helped me decorate this year. She has great taste. Actually," Irina sipped her cosmo and ushered us into the living room. I grabbed a beer on my way. "I think she's one of your students, Edward."

We sat down on the couch and Bella rested her hand on her belly. She was starting to have to part her knees a little bit in order to be comfortable. "I have a lot of students, Irina, you're going to have to be more specific."

Irina complemented and laughed at Bella's costume while asking me to repeat my question. "I can't understand you with those fangs in your mouth, Edward."

"I said you're going to have to be more specific as to which student."

"Oh… Sorry, her name is Tanya Denali. She plays the cello."

"Oh, her," I said lowly.

"What's with the tone?" Irina cocked an eyebrow. "Did she offend your music capabilities in some way. I know you get touchy about that."

"No, Tanya has a little crush on my poor husband here." Bella piped up. She sipped her fruit through the straw. "She keeps flirting with him. I think it's rather funny. She's not the first. My man can't help that he's so hot." Bella baby-talked to me while holding my chin.

I pulled myself from her grasp and threatened to bite her neck. "You should be careful with that, it might turn her on." Alice squeaked behind us. I hadn't even heard her approach. "She is very sexually aroused right now."

"Piss off, Alice." I snapped at her.

"Are you having a mood swing?" Bella teased me.

"Maybe,"

"Uh oh, sympathy pains!" Alice announced.

"Alice, I would back off for an hour or so. Let him drink his beer and calm down." Bella advised wisely. Alice was already buzzed, and if there was anything worse than normal Alice, it was drunk Alice.

I took a long drink of my beer and fiddled around with my fangs as Bella and Irina chatted happily beside me about the babies. Bella asked for my wallet at one point and pulled it from my back pocket getting out a folded copy of the most recent sonogram. Bella handed it over to Irina who just cooed and ran her fingers over the fuzzy black and white image of our girls.

"I'm going to grab some sugary goodness, want anything?" I offered as I got up.

"No, well yes. Get me a cupcake or something." Bella asked. I offered to grab Irina something and she said she was good.

I wandered off into the kitchen looking for something good and I was met with an array with colorful treats and all kinds of candy. I grabbed two little paper plates and started placing different items. They all looked good and there was about five different kinds of cupcakes, so I grabbed three along with a couple rice crispy treats that had dyed orange, some more candy corn because I had the worst soft spot for it, and a bunch of other things.

Bella's eyes practically bugged out of her head when I returned with my plethora of goodies. I sat down beside her watching her eye the rice crispy treats. "Is all of that for you?"

"No, this is for you." I handed her the cupcake that seemed to have the most chocolate. "The rest is for me. What?"

Bella just shook her head at me and started unwrapping her cupcake. I set the plates down in front of me on the coffee table. I was about to dig into a particularly gooey slice of a candy apple when I felt Bella nudge me. "Yes, dear," I asked calmly.

"Can you get me some more fruit punch?" She asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at me. I couldn't resist, even if I was feeling a bit grouchy at the moment.

"Sure,"

"Make sure there's a sour Twizzler in it." Bella called as I headed off to the kitchen. I waved over my shoulder.

Back in the kitchen I ran into some colleagues from the university and we chatted while I ladled some fruit for Bella. They asked about her and I commented that I as currently on a drink run.

"Oh, then you don't want to be ladling that one, it has Vodka in it." Garrett advised.

"Oh," I dropped the ladle and drank down what I had taken. "Ok, then what in here doesn't have alcohol. Where's the fruit punch Irina gave Bella when we got here?"

"Over here," Laurent, Irina's husband motioned. He pointed to the kitchen table that was spread with all kinds of other goodies that I hadn't seen. "That's all the kids stuff. There's no alcohol in any of it, not even the frosting on the brownies."

"Thanks," I went over and grabbed a cup of the fruit punch, or whatever punch it was and stuck a sour Twizzler in it just like Bella asked. I even put the drink in a martini glass so she could feel special.

"Hi, professor Cullen, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

I turned to be met with Irina's cousin. Her strawberry blonde curls were piled up on top of her head in a complicated knot on top of which stood a golden halo. She was dressed in a flowing white dress that stopped above the knee and filmy wings were strapped to her back.

"Hi, Tanya." I muttered.

"Are you here alone?"

"No, I'm with my wife, and I need to get this back to her before she comes looking for me."

"I thought she was pregnant." Tanya asked looking confused as she glanced at the martini glass in my hand.

"She is, this is just me being a wiseass." I laughed, and Tanya joined in although I could tell it was fake. She was a nice girl and everything and very talented with her instrument of choice, but she was young and didn't understand what 'unavailable' meant.

"How do you know my cousin?"

"My sister is friends with her. They do some fashion coordination together for Alice's and Bella's studio downtown."

Tanya reached out and grabbed my arm in excitement. "Oh my God is your sister Alice Cullen? I love her stuff, I mean I love the stuff she uses in her photographs. It's so pretty. Fashion is my safety major in case music tanks for me."

"I tell her you think so. Excuse me, Tanya, I need to be getting back to my wife."

"Wait, you said your wife's name is Bella, right?"

"Yes, why?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound rude. I know Tanya was desperately trying to flirt with me like she always did at the end of every class, but here it could look different, and it really wasn't good that a lot of supers were here as well. Irina was well known throughout the town for her interior design abilities and invited everyone to her parties. She was only recently getting into fashion with Alice.

"Bella Swan, as in Swan and Pixie Photography and Fashion?"

"Yes, that's them." I confirmed.

"I love her stuff, it's so artistic and natural, but with a touch of flair."

"Thank you, I'll tell her that. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"Where is she, I'd love to meet them both."

"Not tonight, Tanya, she's not feeling up to a lot of discussion. Excuse me," I carefully brushed past her back toward the main part of the kitchen. I was two steps from the living room when I was met with Irina, hands on her hips.

"Where have been, picking fruit to make that punch? You have a thirsty pregnant wife waiting for you." She teased me waving her finger.

"Sorry, I got cornered by your cousin. She's a sweet girl, Irina, but a tad annoying."

Irina just laughed. "I know, I'm sorry. When I told her a bunch of the faculty would be here she excitedly asked about you and I told her not to bother you too much. She did eat a lot of the candy an hour before the party started and she's doing the babysitting tonight, so she's around all of those hyper children. I'm sorry, Edward. Pay it no heed she means no harm. It's just a silly crush and she'll get over it."

"Yeah I know, she's not the first. Bella and I have turned it into a bet. How many girls will hit on me this semester?"

Irina laughed lightly and ushered me toward me the living room. Bella was still sitting on the couch, but she was now flanked by Rose and Emmett. I handed her the cup of fruit and sat down to get back to my plates of sweets.

"Dud, Emmett, where is all the stuff I grabbed. There's only like one handful of candy corn left." I exclaimed.

"Sorry, I got hungry." Emmett snickered. I was fuming now, I was looking forward to some of that. "Edward, chill, it's right here. I was just kidding. Geez, Bells you were right. He is having a sympathetic pregnancy with you." Emmett reached behind him to the end table and produced the two of snacks I had put together.

"Emmett, shut up, you were the same way." Rosalie snapped at him.

"I wasn't that bad." Emmett retorted from his perch on the arm of the couch. He sipped his beer and handed me a fresh one.

"Thank you," I sighed and sipped it eagerly.

"So what kept you?" Bella asked as she placed her hand on my thigh.

"Tanya," I answered as I dove into a rice crispy treat. "She loves your work by the way, and Alice's."

"Aww, that's sweet of her. Has she been by the studio recently, Alice is showcasing some new dresses for the spring. We're going to use the blue one for our new business card."

"I'll mention it to her on Monday." I said as bit into the other rice crispy treat.

"So, did she try flirting with you again?"

"Yeah, she's a little obvious. I kept trying to get away from her but she can't take a hint."

"She's young, she'll learn. But like I said," Bella reached over and grabbed the collar of my t-shirt yanking my lips to her. My beer almost fell out of my hand in shock. "You're too hot for your own good."

"Go, Bella!" Rose cheered beside her. "I was so much more obvious with Emmett when I was pregnant. He could just walk in the room and know I wanted it."

"Thanks, Rose, we all needed to hear that." I said settling back down on the couch. Bella curled up beside me and laid down so she could rest her head in my lap and her feet in Rosalie's. We remained like that for the next couple of hours that we were there, Bella only getting up to run back forth to the bathroom, eventually taking our leave around eleven.

Rose and Emmett left with us, having to go pick up Nate from Esme and Carlisle. I never saw Jasper, and Alice didn't make another appearance. She was probably too busy getting smashed with her new husband. They'd only been married a year and still acted as if they been married one day. I knew it was going to be a couple more years before they started trying. They enjoyed being alone too much right now.

Once we got home I made sure all of he doors were locked and Aro was put out back to do his business. I let him back in once he was done, gave his nighttime cookie and trudged upstairs to Bella. She was passed out on the bed still in her Halloween costume. I removed her shirt, her shoes and her shorts leaving her in the leggings and her underwear while I grabbed a maternity nightgown from her dresser.

"Can you sit up, baby, so I can dress you?" I asked quietly. Bella grumbled in her sleep and tried to nod her head.

She pulled herself up for a minute so I put the nightgown on her. She fell back down against the mattress almost immediately. I got undressed and slipped into the bed beside her making she sure was covered by the blanket. I snuggled up next to her and wrapped her up in my arms pushing some hair behind her ear.

"Thank you for going tonight, Edward. I had fun.

"I did, too. Sorry I got grouchy. I guess I am having sympathy pains for you."

Bella chuckled quietly in her sleep. "It's ok, sweetie. Now you know how it feels."


	8. Baby Shower

**A/N: Chapter 8, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

I wasn't the first to wake up this morning, which was how it should have been so I could help Bella to relax. But instead I opened my eyes and turned my head to the side to see Bella smiling brightly at me.

"Good morning, happy Thanksgiving."

"Good morning, beautiful." I leaned in and kissed her sweetly. We lay like that for several minutes just gazing at each other before her hand reached down to cup her large belly.

My eyes followed. Bella had really popped in the last few weeks. She was thirty-two weeks now and now had to part her knees when she sat in order to be anywhere near comfortable. She was running back and forth to the bathroom half a dozen times within a three hour time period and she was never in there more than five minutes. I guess that's what happens when you have two 4lb. babies sitting on your bladder. I really felt sorry for Bella.

"Are they awake?" I asked laying my hand over hers.

"Yeah, we're hungry,"

"I'll make breakfast." I offered and quickly started to get up.

"I want to do it." Bella protested as she hoisted her swollen body from the bed slowly. I moved back across our bed and helped her up keeping one arm around her waist.

"Bella, you have enough trouble getting up and down the stairs."

"What's that got to do with it?" Bella put her little fists on her hips and stared me down.

I sighed as I sat down on our bed and pulled some sleep pants on." Nothing, I would just prefer if you relaxed right now. You're eight weeks away. You should be resting."

"I'm not on mandatory bed rest, Edward." Bella pulled on a pair of my boxers underneath her nightgown.

"Are we really going to argue over this again now?"

Bella walked over to me and got as close as her belly would allow wrapping her hands around my neck. "No, we're dropping it right now." She leaned up and kissed me sweetly.

I tipped my head back so she could press little kisses under my jaw. I was no match for her methods of distraction." Fine,"

"Thank you," Bella sighed. I disengaged from her arms and grabbed her robe from a nearby chair throwing it across her shoulders and tying it loosely in the front for her. "Haven't you learned yet not to argue with a pregnant woman, you never win."

I laughed to myself. "Have you lost sight of your feet yet?"

"Practically," Bella sighed as we headed downstairs. We cooked breakfast together, keeping it light. We were supposed to be at my parents by ten to help get things ready, well I was supposed to help get things ready; Bella wasn't allowed to help. Alice's rules, not mine.

"I'm going to kill your sister if she starts fussing over me." Said Bella as she speared a strawberry with her fork.

"She won't, I already warned her that fussing over you is my job only today."

"I don't want anybody fussing over me. There's no need."

"Bella, you're thirty-two weeks pregnant. No one can help it. We all love you and want you to be healthy."

"I'm aware of that, baby." Bella put her fork done and let her head slump into her hand. "I guess I'm just not that used to it."

"Being fussed over?" I asked, stealing one of her strawberries.

"Yeah," Bella reached over and stole a forkful of my eggs. "Don't give me that look, you just took one of my berries."

After breakfast I politely requested for Bella to go upstairs and take a long hot shower to relax since we had a very full day ahead of us while I cleaned up downstairs. She ranted a little bit about being able to rinse the dishes even if she couldn't put them in the dishwasher and grabbed a garlic pickle from the fridge to nibble on as she trekked upstairs.

I had to grab one myself after I heard the bedroom door slam shut. Her mood swings were driving me crazy at this point. At least her morning sickness wasn't occurring as often, although sometimes she still got a little sick. Last week I was rubbing her back as she heaved over the sink right after a light lunch, and not five minutes later I was throwing up in the downstairs bathroom. Definitely still having sympathy pains for her.

I headed upstairs ten minutes later munching my way through my second pickle and listened for the shower in the master bath. It was on and steam was issuing out over the rail.

"You ok," I called sticking my head in the bathroom.

"Fine," Bella called back.

"Do you need anything?"

"Can you lay out some clothes for me? Nothing festive."

"Sure,"

I went back out into our bedroom and started going through Bella's extensive collection of maternity clothes that Alice had ordered online for her. I tired to reason with my little sister that Bella was only going to need maternity clothes for about five months of her pregnancy, not the rest of her life.

I pulled out a pair of dark wash jeans that had a piece of material sewn to the top hem that was pulled over the belly to help conceal it a little and a teal top. The waist sat above the bulge of the stomach and it tied in the back. Within the first three months of her pregnancy Bella had gone from a 32 B to a 34 C, and she remained there for some time, fluctuating a bit but she would just loosen the bra to be more comfortable. She recently went up one more size to a 36 C. I'm not complaining, but I can only imagine how sore and tender she is right now. I've been banned from touching, and she justifies it with, "I might leak," which is a good excuse, but it didn't mean I was happy.

Sex was also becoming a little uncomfortable for her as well. There were only so many positions left that we could indulge in. The ones that Bella found most comfortable to engage in left me unable to see her face. Her libido was as strong as ever and I knew she couldn't help it, but we were getting close to the point where sex was no longer going to be possible for a few weeks.

I grabbed underwear and a bra from her dresser and waited until I heard the water turn off before I called out if she wanted knee-highs or regular socks.

"Just grab a pair of those thin slip on things," Bella called back. "My ankles are too swollen for socks."

I grabbed the thin slip on things, as she described them, and they were basically what a shoe store put out on the counter for someone to wear while he/she tried on shoes. They came up to the back of the heel and covered the toes and that was about it.

Bella walked back out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed handing me her brush. "Would you mind again?" she asked sweetly.

"Of course not," I took her brush and started working it through her long brown hair.

"That feels nice," Bella sighed as I brushed out her long tresses. I smiled to myself, glad that I could make her feel good. When I was done she handed me a hair tie and I quickly braided her hair and twisted it up into a loose knot on the back her head. "Thank you, Edward." Bella turned her head and I leaned down over her shoulder to kiss her.

"You're welcome. I'm going to get in the shower. We need to leave in the next hour, ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be ready. Take your time."

I kissed her temple and got off the bed peeling off my t-shirt off as I walked into the bathroom. "You are so sexy," Bella sighed behind me.

I smirked at her over my shoulder, and I swear if she didn't have so much trouble getting up she would've leapt across the space between us and jumped me. I took my time in the shower like Bella told me to, and I was glad. All of the muscles in my back were sore and throbbing. Probably from listening to Bella go on about how sore her back was. Yes, definitely more sympathy pains.

I walked out of the bathroom ten minutes later with my towel around my hips and found Bella sitting at her desk going through something on her laptop. I walked over and took her shoulders in my hands leaning over to see what she was looking at.

"I was so thin," Bella mused as she flipped through the pictures Alice had taken of us before Bella started showing.

"You're still beautiful to me no matter how round you get." I whispered tenderly in her ear.

Bella leaned back and smiled at me. "Thanks, baby." I reached around and took Bella's hand in mine pressing them both to her belly. It was an intimate moment and neither of us wanted to break it. I could feel our girls tapping against Bella's stomach and we both smiled brightly at the movement.

"They feel strong,"

"Yeah, they've been keeping me up at night, hence the bruises under my eyes."

"You know what Dr. Webber told us last time,"

"Get used to it," Bella and I said together with a light laugh. I dropped a kiss to the top of her head and told her I was going to get dressed and then we were leaving. Bella continued to flip through the pictures on her laptop and talked about Alice wanting to do the next set of pictures over the weekend. "She says I'm definitely round enough now. And she wants to do pictures after the girls are born, too."

"I like that." I pulled my slacks on and a pale beige pullover. "Baby, where are my shoes?"

"Under the bed, Edward." Bella didn't even look away from the computer.

"Thank you," I got down on my knees and located my favorite shoes. "How did they wind up under there?"

"I was hiding them from Aro. I know you love them and they're brand new. He can't fit under the bed anymore, but he still loves to chew anything he can get his mouth around."

"Thank you," I said again, meaning it more so this time. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Bella got up slowly and slid her flats on. "What's with the cheeky smile?" she asked me looking up from making sure she had the correct shoe on the correct foot.

"Nothing, just thinking about you." I lied. Well, I _was_ thinking about her, but what I was thinking about involved her. I wasn't thinking strictly about her. I just hoped what awaited Bella at my parents' house really did turn out to be a surprise for her.

We arrived a little late thanks to some traffic across town and Bella barely made 'hellos' at the front door before she was making a beeline for the closest bathroom. The whole ride over she was complaining about bursting and I asked her, more so to be a wiseass, if she had gone to the bathroom before we left. She just glared and me threateningly and told me not to drive over any bumps or potholes.

"Sorry for being so rude," Bella apologized when she entered the kitchen. She gave my mother the best hug she could with her huge belly, and same for my father.

"It's all right, I completely understand." Said my mother as she placed a huge cup of coffee down in front of me.

"Bless you," I whispered to her. I sipped it slowly and sighed. The really good stuff. I don't know why I don't come home more often.

"How is the semester going for you?" my father asked as he grabbed some of the vegetable sticks my mother had out to munch on.

"Very good, I have some really promising students that could go on to being a part of some of the bigger and more famous orchestras in this country. One in particular, a young woman who plays the flute. Erin, her name is, lovely young lady. She has such passion for her instrument and plays it beautifully. She could be the female James Galway."

"That's impressive, to say the least. How long has she been playing?" Carlisle inquired further. I glanced over at Bella before answering and she was staring lustfully at my coffee. I pulled it farther away from her and she frowned.

"I'm sorry, honey, but you know you can't." Bella harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm just going to go lay down for a while." She said getting up. I helped her to her feet and Carlisle walked her out to the living room. I heard him ask if she was comfortable and he came back a minute later.

"What was the question," I asked as he reclaimed his seat, "Oh right, I think she said she's been playing since she could hold a flute to her mouth and make noise come out of it."

Carlisle and Esme both laughed and I joined lightly sipping my coffee again. I excused myself after to go check on Bella. She was lying on her side on the couch facing out and her eyes were shut. She appeared to be completely asleep. Her breathing sounded even and deep. I thought better of disturbing her and wandered back into the kitchen.

"She's passed out." I confirmed sitting back at the counter. "So what do you need my help with?" I asked my mother. I didn't have to wait long for an answer. She placed a massive stirring bowl of green, red, and golden apples down in front of me and handed me a mandolin.

About ten apples in I heard the front door open and the all too familiar sound of my younger sister's chime-like voice floated in from the entry hall. "Where's Bella?" she asked loudly, her arms laden with bags that were bursting with different colors.

"Shush!" Carlisle, Esme, and I all hissed at her and we looked into the living room together to see if Bella had been disturbed. I could hear her light snoring, confirming she was still asleep.

"Oh good, well not really. Edward, would it be too much to ask you to help her into one of the guest rooms for a few hours while I decorate?"

"Yes it would, decorate around her." I snapped.

"Adjust the attitude please," Alice requested sweetly. "And if I do that it won't be a surprise."

"I'll help Bella." Esme offered putting her paring knife down. Carlisle took her place finishing dicing the celery. I heard my mother in the living room gently waking Bella up. My wife groaned and grumbled something that sounded like a complaint, but their voices drifted from the living room out into the hall and I heard one of the doors open and close.

"She has really rounded out, Edward." Esme said in observance walking back in. She gave Alice the go ahead to start decorating for the baby shower.

"I know, and she's so beautiful." I glanced out into the living room to see Alice roping Jasper into helping her start putting up streamers. She bounced back into the kitchen her arms full of pastel colors.

"Edward, you have to tell me the sexes." She begged.

"Not happening."

"Please, I have all of these colors…" Alice started to whine.

"We're not saying anything. You'll just have to wait until they're born. Just use all of the colors, keep it neutral."

Alice pouted and tried using her puppy eyes on me but I put my foot down, almost literally on hers, and told her to go away. Alice just pouted some more and stomped back out into the living room where she started ordering Jasper around with the decorations. If my brother in law wasn't so whipped by his wife I'd go in there and stick up for his defense against Alice.

Another five apples and Alice was calling me out into the living to give an opinion on how she was doing so far. I put the mandolin down and wiped my hands on a dishtowel. I had to admit when I stepped out into the living room I was impressed with the progress he had made so far.

Paper streamers in pale blue, yellow, peach, green, and pink were strung across the ceiling and Jasper was tying off balloons to match and letting them settle wherever. "It looks really nice, Alice. Bella will really like it."

"Great," Alice said sounding very satisfied with my answer. She beamed at me and then pulled three wrapped banners from a plastic bag. "You get to choose." She explained laying them out on the coffee table. Of course Alice had gone and bought two banners; one pink and one blue; in the hopes that I would choose one, or both, and she would know the sexes of our twins. But she had also bought a neutral peach colored one that simply said, "Congratulations!"

I selected that one.

"You take all of the fun out." Alice grumbled as she ripped the banner open and unfolded it.

"That's my job." I sarcastically responded as I walked back out into the kitchen. I quickly finished up the task my mother had bestowed upon me and washed up. I heard Emmett and Rosalie coming through the front door and walked out into the hall to greet them. Rose was carrying Nate and Emmett's arms were loaded with gift bags. "How much did you two buy for her?"

"All of the clothes that were on your registry plus a couple other little things we saw that looked cute." Rose explained shutting the door.

"We didn't have that many clothes." I protested.

"We know," Emmett said with an obvious tone, "So we bought more."

I just rolled my eyes and went out into the living room to ask Alice if I could get Bella now. "Almost," Alice answered from where she was perched on the arm of a chair reaching up to straighten a streamer. I headed back out into the hall when I heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, Kate, I'm glad you could make it." I greeted her enthusiastically.

"Yeah, me too. I can only stay a few hours, though, I need to get home for dinner."

"That's fine, this shouldn't take too long, I hope. I really want Bella to rest and not be on her feet for too long."

Kate nodded in understanding and handed me the one gift large gift bag she had brought. "Hey, no peeking!" she chastised me smacking my hand away as I tried to look inside. I had no idea what she had gotten, after I told her to get nothing.

I invited her inside and took her coat and showed her to where the living room was introducing her to my family. I dropped her bag, which was slightly heavy, next to others. Alice gave the go-ahead to get Bella from the guest room. Esme had gone in there a couple minutes ago to wake her up with a cup of her favorite strawberry tea. I hoped it had done the trick of softening her.

"Hey baby," Bella said from where she sat on the side of the bed sipping her tea. Esme had her hand on my wife's belly and was talking to our little girls. "Time to eat?" Bella asked me.

"Almost, I just you'd want to come out and join us for a bit of fun before the food."

"Sure," Bella sipped her tea again finishing it off and Esme took the cup as she helped her up. "What kind of fun are we talking about?" she asked me as I took her hand.

"The fun kind," I answered cryptically on purpose. Esme snickered beside me.

"I'll see you two out there." She smiled and left ahead of us.

"Edward, what's going on?" Bella asked as we stopped at the door.

"You'll see, just promise me you'll have a good time." I cupped her face and kissed her gently.

"Only if you tell me what is going on before I go out there." Bella tried to bargain with me. It wasn't going to happen.

"I can't, sweetheart. Just promise to enjoy yourself, ok?"

Bella sighed and tapped her foot for a moment, but in the end when she realized I wasn't going to say anything she stopped and finally consented. "All right, lets go." She grabbed my hand and I led us from the room.

Her fingers squeezed mine as we approached the living room and as soon as we walked through the entryway Bella gasped at the decorations. "Oh, Edward…" She sighed and I could hear the tears in her voice. Suddenly she screamed as our family appeared from the kitchen and shouted 'Surprise!'. Bella gripped my hand tighter and I could see the tears now falling down her face.

Alice walked over first and gave Bella a huge hug. I could hear her thanking my sister profusely. Everyone took their turn giving Bella a hug before I led her over to the rocking chair that was dressed with a sign that said 'Reserved for Big Momma'.

"That was Rosalie's idea." I said nodding in her direction.

"Was not!" Rosalie protested sitting down and starting to bounce Nate on her knee. Emmett repeated the same throwing his arm across the back of the couch behind her.

"Ok, ok, it wasn't. It was Jasper's idea." I smirked trying to blame it on my step-brother next. Luckily he took the fault protecting his wife. Alice just giggled as she got away with it.

"All right, all right," Bella called from her seat. "Let's get this embarrassment over with."

"Hey, you promised." I reminded her as I took my seat beside her in the armchair Alice had used earlier as a stepladder.

"What's the game plan?" Bella asked looking around.

"Gifts first, so you can rest for a bit," Alice explained as she reached behind the chair she was sitting in. She pulled out a plain white straw hat with a wide brim. "And every single bow and piece of ribbons will go on this hat."

"No!" Bella protested with a laugh. "You did that to me at my bridal shower, you're not getting away with it again."

"Tough," Alice snickered. She handed the hat to Esme who was in charge of making sure every last ribbon and bow got on it somehow. "Ok, my gift first." She squealed. Jasper picked up the stereo remote and turned on the mix CD I had made for the party. It was a bunch of kid songs that immediately got everyone laughing and lightened the atmosphere.

Bella unwrapped Alice and Jasper's gift first, which was just a folder, but inside it had pictures of all the furniture we had picked out for the nursery. Bella thanked them both and handed me the folder. I quickly flipped through the pictures to make sure Alice had gotten the pieces we requested. The only thing she had added was what appeared to be a small ottoman with a removable lid that could serve as a small toy box.

"Thank you, Alice, very much." I said placing the folder on the floor. Alice just beamed at me and Bella.

"Ok, us next." Emmett announced and got up grabbing the plethora of bags he had walked through the door with. Bella's eyes bugged out at the sheer number of them, especially the largest of them.

"Did you buy the whole store?"

"No, just the majority of your wish list." Rose stated. "You wouldn't let us do anything else."

"Well that's because you've been the one taking me to breathing and yoga classes all these months." Bella retorted through a laugh. Esme quickly pulled the bows off of all the bags and attached them to the hat. The once empty white hat now started to overflow with color and curly ribbon. Bella glared at it actually looking scared.

She made her way through the eight or so bags of clothing cooing and awing at them as she reflected on how tiny they were. She held up the little booties and caps for pictures with bright smiles. I could tell she was starting to really enjoy herself. As she reached for the larger bag I got up and asked if anyone wanted drinks. My father got up to assist me and as we were pouring drinks in the kitchen I hear screech in excitement. I quickly rushed back out to see what the gift had been.

I felt a wide smile stretch my face when I saw Bella grinning over the two baby carriers Rose and Emmett had gotten us. "Those are for when the twins are a little bigger than just newborn." Rose explained. "One is for you, one is for Edward. We even had them customized."

I walked across the room to examine the baby carriers. Bell flipped one over and I flipped the other over. On the back of mine it said 'Mommy', and the back of the one Bella was holding said 'Daddy'. Bella's hand came up to her mouth as she started to cry a little, and I knew it was in excitement. She looked to Rose and held her arms out. Rose handed Nate to Emmett and walked over to give Bella a hug.

"Thank you so much, you really have been an angel these past months. Thank you,"

I gave Bella a one-armed hug and kissed her temple when she let Rosalie go. I excused myself back to the kitchen to help my father and returned a couple moments later handing Bella a glass of apple juice. "All in spirit." I said to her. She sipped the juice and licked her lips afterward.

"Ah, how did you know exactly what I was craving?"

"Because I was craving the same thing." I said and sipped my own glass of juice.

Next my mother and father gave us their gifts which the twin baby stroller we had asked for, a large playpen as well as two more baby carriers, these more fit for newborns. We thanked them both and Esme happily the added and ribbons from the gifts to the now covered hat. Last was Kate's gift and I had no idea what it was. Kate walked over and handed Bella the bag waiting as she opened it. I actually gasped when I saw what it was as Bella pulled it from it the bag. It was an ivory baby book for twins with sheer white ribbon along the left side.

"Oh, Kate," Bella looked up to her, her eyes glassy with tears. "Thank you," Kate leaned down and gave my wife a huge hug around her torso careful not to squeeze too tight.

"Of all the things Edward has mentioned over the past months that you two wanted for the twins I never once heard 'baby book' come from his mouth. Read the inside cover."

Bella flipped open the large book and read aloud the note Kate had written there addressed to us both. "Congratulations to two of the most talented and gifted people I know. Babies are a blessing to those who conceive and I know your little ones will be just as blessed to have you as parents as you are to have them as children. May they create beautiful music like their father and have their mother's sharp eye for hidden treasures in this world." Bella finished and actually got up from her seat and threw her arms around Kate. "Thank you, it's truly beautiful."

"I knew you would like the moment I saw it."

Bella sniffed a couple times and wiped her tears away before giving Kate another hug. I helped her back down into her seat and she started to turn through the pages in the baby book pointing out the places where we would record their first steps, first words and so on. There were two pages especially dedicated to a ring of pictures for each baby, each tiny frame captioned underneath with 'month 1', 'month 2'…And then the center was larger for a picture captioned underneath, '1 Year'.

"I can't wait to start using this." Bella hugged the book tightly and rocked side to side with it smiling.

"Time for the hat!" Alice announced grabbing her camera. Bella's face immediately feel, but when she saw how Esme had made up the hat with everything so that it didn't look completely hideous her smile came back and she let me tie it around her chin. Alice snapped a couple pictures of Bella laughing as I tied the hat, and then just pictures of just Bella. When she finished Bella undid the hat and handed it to me.

"No, absolutely not."

"You never told me about the surprise, put it on."

"Duh, I never told you, it wouldn't have been a surprise then." Bella just shoved the hat in my direction. My family started chanting for me to put it on. I took the hat with a huff and shoved it onto my head. Bella tied the bright pink ribbon around my chin and Alice started clicking pictures feverishly. "Ok, enough of this." I said untying the hat and handing it back to Bella.

Alice produced a tall, wide hat box for it that she had written across the top 'Bella's baby shower hat'. She gingerly placed the hat inside and tied the box shut adding it to the pile of gifts.

"Ok, next fun thing." She announced happily. This was the part I had been waiting for. I couldn't help the menacing grin that split my lips. I looked at Bella as she watched Alice disappear for a minute and come back with a huge plastic drum that had 'plaster' written across it in black. She left the large bucket in the kitchen.

"Alice, what do you have planned for that?" Bella asked warily.

"Come with me," Rosalie said standing and grabbing the small backpack next to her. She helped Bella to her feet and they left back down the hall toward the guest room.

"All right, we need to lay paper down on the kitchen floor, move the table and chairs out of the way and put one chair in the middle for Bella." I said standing. Kate and Esme stayed behind in the living room with Nate while Alice, Jasper, Emmett, my father, and I all got the kitchen ready. Bella and Rosalie came back a couple minutes, Rosalie escorting Bella who was now dressed in a maternity bikini. I loved how huge her belly was. She looked so wonderful. "You sit here," I instructed helping her into the chair.

"What is going on?" Bella asked as Alice started handing out latex gloves. Kate had joined us, Esme opting to stay with Nate. She was going to stand in the doorway and watch. I could understand since she was the one cooking dinner tonight.

"We're making a plaster cast of your huge belly, Bells," Emmett explained. "Remember we did it for Rose, too."

"Oh…. Oh God." Bella moaned leaning forward and burying her face in her hands. "This is so awkward."

We spent the next half hour covering Bella's baby bump in sticky plaster. She giggled and laughed along with us as the plaster got everywhere at first except her belly. Once we reached her rib cage Alice ushered the men outside the house so the girls could finish the cast over Bella's breasts. Not even I was allowed to stay. I laughed to myself as Bella protested, her voice becoming lost as I shut the door firmly.

"It's not fair that even you can't be in there." Jasper stated kicking at some of the gravel in the driveway. "It's not like you haven't seen her naked before."

"I'm humoring your wife here, just as I have been the past six months."

"Good point, I suppose it's only fair we let Alice have her fun since she's the holdout now in the baby drama of the Cullen family."

"So just knock her up soon and she won't feel left out," said Emmett as he received a punch in the chest from Jasper.

"Boys," Carlisle chastised.

"Ok, you can come in now," Esme said when she stuck her head out of the door almost an hour later. We had passed them time wrestling in the snow on the front lawn with Carlisle warning us not to get messed up. We still had a family dinner to sit down to.

"The cast is off and drying," Alice explained. "Rose is helping Bella wash up."

Kate was putting her coat on and taking the shower favors that Alice and Bella had designed together over a months ago. Of the two, my favorite was the little crystal carriages that had been engraved with the date of the shower. 'Bella's baby shower, November 26, 2009'.

"Tell Bella thank you for inviting me, I had a great time." Kate said as she got ready to go. "I'll see you on Monday."

"Yup, thanks for coming Kate. And thank you for the baby book. You were right, it was the one thing we never talked about needing. Completely slipped our minds."

"You're more than welcome. Have a nice dinner."

"You too," I called as Kate walked to her car. I waited until she was safely off before closing the door. I wandered into the living room where the cast of Bella's tummy was drying on top of newspapers on the floor.

"Am I really that huge?" Bella asked behind me. She was tying the sash of the burgundy maternity sweater I had packed for her underneath her swollen breasts.

"You're beautiful," I whispered I to her taking her face in my hands and kissing her gently. "I don't care how round you get. In fact," I placed my hand against her abdomen, "I can't wait until you get even rounder."

"I can't wait until they're born," Bella sighed taking my hand as we walked toward the dining room. I could the smell the turkey and my stomach snarled. "I feel like I've swallowed two watermelons. And I hate watermelon." She laughed easily and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders drawing her as close as I could.


	9. Merry Christmas

**A/N: Chapter 9, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

Thank God we're on Christmas break right now, otherwise this would have never gotten completed. Bless Alice and Rosalie for keeping Bella out of the house lately, whether it be short walks in the neighborhood, or brief strolls around the mall; Alice even called Bella in for a fake emergency one afternoon at their studio. Bella spent four hours in a roll-around chair helping Alice dress up a dozen or so mannequins with some of her designs. I spent four hours with Jasper and Emmett's help putting together a very special surprise for Bella.

Everything had finally come and not soon enough. The last three weeks have been very stressful around here. I've had to rush home from classes on some days to check for packages and quickly have to hide them before Bella noticed. I even called out one afternoon on a Friday, much to my students' happiness because I needed to make a decision on paint and Emmett was impatiently waiting for me at the hardware store.

"Did you two actually decide on a theme yet?" He asked as I grabbed two cans of pale, pear green paint.

"Of course we did, months ago. Or one month ago, I don't remember, but yes. We did decide."

"So does the fact that you're buying green paint mean you're having at least one boy?"

"No," I answered, "It just means we're keeping it neutral."

"Yellow is neutral, brother, green sort of points towards a boy."

"Think what you want, Em." I said picking out rollers and brushes.

"What's the theme, let me guess something neutral right, like bumblebees?"

"No, actually, puppies."

"What?" Emmett exclaimed.

"Like you did any better," I retorted. Emmett and Rose never bothered to find out what they were before Nate was born and since Rose appeared the whole time to be carrying a girl they would up painting the room yellow with a daisy theme. Emmett nearly puked when he realized his son would now have to sleep in that room. Within a week after the baby born he had redecorated with a football, much to Rose's disappointment, but Nate seemed to like it so she was happy.

"That was an accident. We wanted to be surprised. I'll admit we should have gone with something a little more, subtle, but Rose wanted daisies and I couldn't say no. You know how it is."

My cell phone started buzzing in my pocket and I thought it was Jasper calling to tell me he was at the house, but it was Bella on the ID. "Yeah, I do know how it is," I responded as I flipped the phone open. "Hey, hon, what's up?"

"Where are you?" Bella asked sweetly.

This was not going to go over well. "Out, why?"

"Out where?" Bella pried.

"Just…out. I'll be home soon. Why, where are you?"

"Still with Alice and Rose. We're getting ice cream."

"In the middle of December?" I asked incredulously. "It's freezing outside."

"I had a craving. When will you be home?"

"I said soon, maybe an hour." I glanced at my watch. It was almost three. Yeah, I would definitely be back before four.

"Ok, I'll see you later. Love you,"

"Love you, too." I hung up quickly before she could ask for more information. And that had been two weeks ago. I had been fighting to keep this secret from her for two weeks now. I had also been fighting with Jasper about how to put furniture together. I knew I should have asked Emmett when it came time to put the cribs together.

So today is December 19 and we're due for our final ultrasound. I had Bella bundled up nice and tight after making sure the door, which behind lay the big hush, hush secret was locked, and led her out the door. I had already started to car ten minutes ago to make sure it got warm enough. The driveway was a little slippery and I had done my best to chip away as much of the ice as I could, but some of it was too hard to break apart.

The Volvo was becoming more and more uncomfortable for Bella to sit in, meaning the seat was getting too small. There really wasn't much I could do about that. We could take her car to the doctor's office, but mine was safer. Bella secured her belt below her bulge and rubbed her stomach gently.

"Don't press too hard, you might wet yourself." Bella reached across the seat and punched my arm.

"I actually don't need to drink as much water now. The girls have gotten so big you can't miss them."

"No kidding,"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No,"

"Just drive, Edward."

We arrived at the office a little early and Bella was still in a bit of a huff. I helped her from the car and she accepted my arm around her as we walked in. "You want to tell me what's bothering you?" I asked once we were on the elevator.

"You're hiding something from me, I know you are. You're being all secretive and cryptic."

"I'm always like that, though." I teased trying to make her smile. It didn't work.

"Why can't you just tell me?" Bella turned her head to look up at me. I didn't like seeing her sad in any way for any reason, but I just couldn't tell her.

"You'll find out soon, I promise."

Bella just sighed realizing she wasn't going to win and gave up as we reached our floor. She sat down on the empty couch and I checked us in at the counter. Since we were early and the office wasn't that busy today Dr. Webber came out almost immediately. Bella started removing her scarf and coat as we walked toward the room. She had a little difficulty getting up into the chair, but once she was off of her feet and lying down she was much more comfortable.

"Just about the only position I'm comfortable in these days. My back is killing me."

"Try laying on your left side when you sleep, it should help relieve some of the strain." Dr. Webber suggested as she prepped Bella for the ultrasound. "Are you having any cramping or any pain in your abdominal region?"

"No, should I?"

"Not yet, but sometimes twins can be born a few weeks early. You're about five weeks away now, correct?"

"Yeah," Bella smiled softly and reached for my hand. We had become accustomed to being emotional during these checkups. Seeing our girls on the screen always made it so real for us. As Dr. Webber watched the screen she pointed out things here and there, like where the girls had grown most since our last visit and what still had yet to develop or finish developing. I just sat there and smiled.

"Everything looks great, Bella, however, I want you on bed rest for your last four weeks. So starting after Christmas no excessive moving. I would have started your bed rest earlier, but you didn't have any potential problems developing. You'll make sure she gets her sleep, right?" Dr. Webber asked me.

"Yes, I will. No moving around for you." I patted Bella's arm and she smirked at me.

"You can finally get around to teaching me how to play chess."

Dr. Webber joined in the little chuckle that went around between the three of us and finished up with the scan before sending copies of the images to be printed for us. I helped Bella clean up and fix her clothes before she got down from the chair and we walked out with my arm around her back.

"So the next time I see you won't be too long from now." Dr. Webber assured us with a smile. She reached out and patted Bella's bulge gently. "You two are going to have very beautiful babies."

"Thank you, we'll see you soon." Bella smiled.

"Don't forget to go over to the hospital in the next week and pre-register." Dr. Webber called from behind the counter as I helped Bella into her coat. I waved as we walked out and grabbed her hand.

"Excited," I asked as we walked to the car.

"Excited, nervous, scared…anxious. I don't know anymore."

I brought Bella's hand to my mouth and kissed it gently. "Everything will be fine." I assured her. "I promise,"

I woke up the following Sunday morning to someone stroking the bridge of my nose gently. And then I felt a pair of lips brush my forehead, my closed eyelids, the tip of my nose, and finally my lips.

"Morning, sexy," Bella breathed sweetly.

I opened my eyes to see her gorgeous brown orbs glittering above me. "Morning, beautiful," I breathed in return.

"Want to make love?"

I felt an eyebrow quirk in response and I reached up to stroke her lovely face. "Will you be uncomfortable?"

"No, I thought of a new position, and it might be a little awkward, but I think it's worth a try."

"You sure,"

"Positive, Edward." Bella grinned at me and I could see the absolute proof that her libido was still going strong and she had no worries. Bella moved to lie flat on her back propping her head against the pillows. She turned and smiled at me.

"All right," I sighed, pretending to sound pestered. I got on my knees in front of her. "So what is this position you had in mind?"

"Put my feet up on your shoulders." I took her ankles and raised them until her heels rested on my shoulders. I parted my knees in a wide 'v' around her bottom positioning myself right at her entrance.

"Are you comfortable so far?"

"Like I said, it would be a little awkward, but it actually feels really good, keep going, Edward."

I slipped inside of her easily, moaning loudly at how utterly tight she was, and smiled as she moaned my name in return. I took my time being gentle with her, stroking the length of her legs, sometimes reaching out and grasping her hands in mine. We went slow, mixing up different rhythms and motions. I watched Bella's face the entire time; her eyes sometimes open, sometimes shut, but with the same look of ecstasy always there.

I knew she was close after some time, I could hear it in the change of her breathing and the way she was moving against me now, her rhythm becoming a little more frantic than the one we had been following. She started panting my name and the sound spurred me on. I moved a little rougher against her and that seemed to bring Bella a new level of pleasure.

She half screamed my name as she came and I pumped hard enough to reach my own release, but was also careful not hurt her. I withdrew from her still catching my breath and lowered her legs into a more comfortable position. Bella turned her head to smile contently at me as I relaxed on the bed beside her, reaching out and stroking some damp hair off of her forehead.

"Thank you," she whispered lovingly to me. "I figured you could use that as well. You've been working your ass of lately and you're not even in class. That's wouldn't have anything to do with the little secret you're keeping from me, would it?"

"Perhaps," I answered cryptically, "but you'll just have to wait until Christmas to find out."

"You're no fun," Bella sighed as she snuggled her head into my shoulder.

"I'm plenty of fun, as recent activities may suggest."

"Mm, yes, " Bella shut her eyes and nodded sighing softly again as sleep began to take her. It was going to be an easy Sunday today.

Christmas came quickly at the end of the week and to my disappointment Bella was up before I was. I was hoping to really surprise her this morning, although I knew her real surprise was safely locked up and she didn't know where the key was. As I walked downstairs I was greeted by the familiar scent of cinnamon, apples, and chocolate. I had no idea what Bella was cooking, and I was even more perplexed when I heard several voices issuing from the kitchen.

I was obviously shocked to see my mother and sister in the kitchen with Bella. My mother was stirring a pot of hot cocoa next to Alice who was flipping apple cinnamon pancakes, and my beautiful bride sat at the table, still in her pjs, operating the standing bowl mixer making fresh whipped cream.

"How come I never get an invite to these parties?" I complained walking into the kitchen. I gave my mother and sister both a kiss and wished them a Merry Christmas.

"Like you would want to be involved." Esme winked at me. "Now go sit with your wife and don't eat all the cream, it's supposed to go with breakfast."

"Good morning, love," Bella smiled at me and stuck her finger in the cream offering it to me. "I need your opinion."

I sat down and licked her finger clean. It was almost perfect. "A little more vanilla and a little more sugar." I replied honestly. Bella nodded and pushed the cup of coffee towards me that was sitting next to her mug of gingerbread tea.

"Merry Christmas," I whispered after my first sip and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Merry Christmas, when do I get my surprise?"

I chuckled and looked over to my mother and sister. Alice just smirked and went back to flipping pancakes. "You are too eager," I smiled stroking Bella's hair, "But good things come to those who wait."

"I've been waiting for three weeks, Edward. Not to mention the last eight months." Bella scooped some sugar from the bowl beside the mixer and went about slicing open a fresh vanilla bean with a paring knife and carefully scooped out the seeds inside dumping them into the mixer as well. She turned it back on low watching as the ingredient whipped together.

"So when is everyone due to be here?" I asked anyone in general.

"Soon," Esme answered glancing up at the clock. "Your father is coming over alone in a bit, Alice is going to go pick up Jasper, and Emmett, Rose, and Nate should be here momentarily."

"Where's Aro?" I asked, suddenly aware of his absence.

"In his room, he was getting too excited with everyone here so I gave him one of his presents and told him to go lay down. He's asleep for now." Bella answered as she turned the mixer off and asked me to taste the cream again.

"Perfect," I smiled and leaned to kiss her with a little of the cream on my lips. Bella licked hers clean when we parted and I went back for seconds. She smacked my hand away before I could at the bowl.

"You heard what your mother said," she chided me.

"I did?" I teased, feigning confusion.

The front door opened and Aro's barking filled the house from his room near the back. I heard Emmett complaining about the noise before he walked into the kitchen and Rose reprimanding him for language, saying that their dog was no quieter.

"Merry Christmas," they both greeted us as they walked past the kitchen out to the living room to drop off the bags of gifts Emmett was carrying. Nate was bouncing in his mother's arms with excitement waving around what looked like a new stuffed toy. Bella excused herself to go upstairs and change and I helped my mother and sister finish putting breakfast together for everyone. Bella was still up in our room when my father arrived, Alice returning a couple minutes later with Jasper, both carrying bundles of packages. I recognized two large boxes, which I knew, was the one thing we had not received at Bella's baby shower, and they were among the more important necessities we would need in a few a short weeks.

I had called the hospital a few days ago and pre-registered Bella and I and gave them the approximate date of her expectancy. I was just about to run upstairs to get Bella, but she was walking down dressed in her pajama bottoms and the t-shirt I had given her last night as an early gift. It was a black t-shirt with baby feet prints and it said above the feet, 'Loving my little nudger'. Of course she was carrying twins, but I couldn't find one for twins, so I settled for the single.

She made herself comfortable on the chaise with a fresh cup of gingerbread tea I had made for her and laughed as everyone got a kick out of her t-shirt. We started passing gifts around to each other, Esme and I making plates of pancakes and cups of cocoa as we unwrapped. We passed breakfast around as well and I offered to feed Nate so Emmett could present his wife with a beautiful necklace in the shape of a heart with Nate's birthstone in the middle.

Of course when we got to the large boxes Alice and Jasper had brought in I let Bella unwrap them and watched her sigh in relief when she saw that they were car seats. "Thank God someone got these. I can't believe we didn't remember to ask for them." She said looking over the beige colored seats on the outside of the box that had little toys hanging from the handle. "Thank you both so much."

"You actually did remember to ask, we just decided to save them until Christmas." Alice said happily. "And you're welcome."

Bella gushed over how cute and little a lot of the baby clothes were she received, not that we needed any more. I still had yet to present the biggest gift that everyone but Bella knew about and it was winding down to that moment. I stood up and cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"You better not be announcing a third baby already," My father teased. "The first two aren't even here yet."

"No, something better." I retorted. Emmett was snickering; Alice was grinning ear to ear, and my mother's face shined almost as brightly as Bella's had when she told me she was pregnant. Bella looked up at me confused, but smiled nonetheless. "Come with me," I said holding out my hand to her. I saw Alice whip out a small camcorder and turn it on as she got up to follow us from the living room up the stairs and down the hall from our bedroom. I stopped outside of the door and told Bella to shut her eyes.

I noticed that the rest of my family had followed us up here as well, all anxious to see Bella's reaction to her special surprise. I reached out and turned the knob pushing the door open gently and asked Bella to step forward a little bit.

"All right, are you ready?" I asked, teasing just a little bit.

"I am _so_ ready, Edward. Please,"

"Open your eyes." I whispered to her.

They opened tentatively and as soon as Bella took in the room around her eyes began to water. The walls were painted the pale pear green with a blue border around the middle that had puppies playing with each other. There were two white cribs facing out from the far wall already made up with matching pads, bumpers, and blankets. Each crib had a puppy mobile hanging above. A matching white changing table sat against the left wall completely stocked and ready to go. Bella's new rocking chair was in the opposite corner beside a blue and green puppy lamp, and opposite that a few feet down from the table was the large white armoire we had picked out. The small ottoman Alice had added sat in the middle of the room on top of a throw rug that matched the small plush pictures hanging on the walls and was filled with the small stuffed and plastic toys we had received at the baby shower. The only thing left to do was have Bella add the clothing she had received today.

"Oh my God, Edward…" she breathed looking around, her hands coming up to her mouth. "This is so beautiful." I came up behind her and slipped an arm around her waist.

"I told you good things come to those who wait."

"This is definitely worth you keeping the secret. Thank you," She leaned up and kissed me gently.

"Thank Em and Jazz, too, they helped a lot with the assembly and painting."

Bella turned over my shoulder and smiled at my brother and brother-in-law. She then flashed a brilliant smile toward Alice and told her to come in more into the room and get everything on the tape.

"Look, even the curtains match!" Bella squealed as she started going around and touching everything. "I'm so excited now, this just makes it so real!"

Once everyone had their turn looking over the nursery we all went back downstairs where Alice set the camcorder down and started to pull a very beautifully wrapped package from the bag at her feet. I didn't even know what this was.

"I kind of, sort of had Jasper sneak this from your bedroom a couple weeks ago so I could work on it." She explained smiling sheepishly at Bella and I. She handed over the now familiar shape and Bella carefully unwrapped it.

It was the photo album we had begun months ago with pictures of Bella and I before she started to grow round. Alice had added all of the new pictures from Thanksgiving when we had come in and done round two, now that Bella had "filled out" more. We started flipping through the pictures and I just watched in shock as I first saw the pictures of Bella pointing to her flat stomach, and then the next page she was on her knees and I was lying below her cradling and kissing her very obvious bulge.

"Alice these are beautiful. I told you, you were a wonderful photographer."

"I'm definitely getting better since doing this. We still have to take pictures after the twins are born, though. And I can't wait for those, we'll both take them."

"Deal," Bella agreed.

"Wow, you look so beautiful. And you're still going to get a little rounder, I just don't understand it." I breathed looking through the pictures some more. There were shots of Bella alone, and one in particular that I just adored was her wearing a one shoulder maternity dress that was almost like a tunic, and she was cradling her bulge in both hands smiling proudly.

Bella looked over at me laying her hand on my shoulder. "We're not meant to understand it, Edward, just love what's given to us." She said to me and no one else. Well, I _would_ love what was given to me, all three of them. I leaned over and pressed the softest, sweetest kiss to Bella's lips, my hand falling to its place on her big belly where it began to rub gently of its accord.

A/N: PROFILE UPDATE: new pictures now up for the nursery, the photo album, and Bella's t-shirt in this chapter! Review please! Love to everyone!


	10. Homestretch

**A/N: Chapter 10, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

According to the baby calendar Bella had written up for me we had two weeks left before our precious little girls would be here. Bella had been on mandatory bed rest since December 26; today was January 9. This was her third week and already she wanted to kill someone. Alice had graciously volunteered to visit daily and keep her company for several hours on end. I taught Bella how to play chess and we continued to play every night. She was becoming quite good and would soon be able to put me to shame.

Whenever Alice came over she brought work with her so Bella was still able to help clients and make decisions on special and VIP accounts. I'd listened one Saturday afternoon to the two of them complaining over two photos with different lighting techniques, and about which was better because natural light was softer when compared to lamps. I had no idea what they were saying half of the time and opted to take Aro for a very long walk around the neighborhood.

It was especially chilly now and that day had been no exception. I bundled up nice and tight and made sure Bella was comfortable, kissing her overly swollen stomach tenderly before leaving, and of course kissing my beautiful bride goodbye for a while.

Aro and I walked down the street with him happily trotting along and barking for joy, swinging his head from side to side every now and then and looking back to me with a huge smile on his face. You can tell when a dog is smiling. It's very obvious.

We eventually got the park and sat under one of the lean-tos for protection from the snow that was starting to fall. Aro sat at my feet and I looked down to him with a very serious expression. His ears immediately went back and he started to whine thinking he was going to be reprimanded, but that wasn't the case.

"We need to have a discussion." I said to him, and I patted his head. His smile immediately returned and he licked my gloved hand in response. "There are going to be two new long-term "visitors" coming to stay. You have to be nice to them, boy, do you understand me?" Aro just stared at me like he understood, but I doubted he knew a word of what I said to him.

"Are you going to behave when the girls come? I need to be able to depend on you; we're going to be outnumbered in the house soon. We're going to need to stick together."

Aro smiled at me and barked loudly, his breath forming white clouds in the cold air, and his tail wagging rapidly back and forth. We headed back to the house after that. I'd been reminding him everyday since that conversation about him having to behave. I'm hoping to ingrain it in him by the time the babies are here.

I can't believe there's only two weeks left. We had a bag packed, we were registered at the hospital, and the car seats were safely and securely set up in the Volvo. The nursery was officially complete, and the house completely baby proofed.

Leaning back in my office chair I glanced at the most recent picture of Bella that I had on my desk. It was one of the photos Alice had taken, the one of Bella in her one-shoulder dress cradling her large belly and smiling proudly. I picked it up and ran my fingers down the glass before setting it back down.

I had a quiet afternoon today and that allowed me some time to think. My mind chose to relive the moment Bella told me she was pregnant with twins. I don't remember ever feeling that happy, that…elated before in my life. I couldn't believe we were going to have babies; that we were going to start a family together.

At first Bella thought I was being a little too overprotective of her, not allowing her to do a lot of things like climb a short ladder to reach something on a high shelf in our kitchen pantry. I had yelled at her to get down before she fell, which I'll admit I shouldn't have done, but I was just so afraid of her getting hurt. I wouldn't let her walk Aro for the first few weeks after she told me she was expecting, fearing he would pull her and she would go flying landing on her stomach.

Bella pretty much cut me off at the knees after that and we fought, bickered actually, over safety concerns and I finally eased up a bit and relented to letting her have a little more freedom.

And then came the mood swings and the weird food cravings, and the ever-present morning sickness that didn't go away until she was about five months along. I'd never seen someone eat so many pickles before in my life. And forget having to listen to her bitch and complain and bite my head off or jump down my throat when I was least expecting it.

I think of the fifty something jars of pickles we've gone through in the last nine months I ate about twenty-three of them myself. I started getting sympathetic pregnancy symptoms right along with Bella. To this moment my back is killing me and I could really go for some pistachio nuts right about now. Something salty…

We have been extremely fortunate that her pregnancy has been uneventful as far as problems go. So many women can have terrible, terrible pregnancies, sickness, constant pain, some even have cracked ribs and other complications that can go wrong internally but Bella… its like she was made to carry our girls, my girls. On Christmas day after our families left, I was walking down the hallway upstairs and I saw her sitting in the rocker in the nursery holding a stuffed German shepherd puppy, looking out the window at the snow rubbing her humongous belly and I heard her singing "Have I told you lately that I love you" to our girls. I so very much wanted to play my piano to her voice while she sang to our children and just watch and listen as she bonded even more with the two beings that took up home in her beautiful body. But instead, I settled for quietly standing in the hallway and watching with a few tears escaping my eyes.

She has made comments throughout the past five months that she is afraid I won't find her as attractive as much as I used to because she has stretch marks now and I may or may not get back to the same size she used to be; but I took her in my arms, kissed her gently, held her glowing face in my hands firmly and explained that no matter what, she will always be _my_ Bella, be the woman I vowed to love and take care of all of my days; and stretch marks or nothing else would ever keep me from that. She is the only woman for me, period. I think she knows I meant it because she began to cry, either that or her emotions were hitting a peak once more, going from ninety to nothing and back again.

I didn't have class again until later this afternoon and I was heavily tempted to head home and check on my wife, but right now I had office hours and had to stay here in case any students showed up. It was only a couple weeks into the semester and I would be holding practice sessions for the first composition everyone was required to play in two weeks. It coincided with Bella's expectancy date and I had already forewarned my classes that met that week that the dates for their performances may need to be pushed back and how that worked to their advantage.

"It doesn't mean you can procrastinate with your practice, it just means you all get an extra or two to perfect your pieces." I announced staring them all down sternly.

My cell phone buzzed on my desk and I grabbed for it flipping it open. The text was from Alice.

_Bella thinks she just had a contraction, should I take her to the hospital? _

Instead of texting back I exited my messages and quickly called Alice's phone. "What's going on?" I asked as I stood up grabbing my coat.

"We were just sitting here and all of a sudden Bella started grabbing at her stomach. It's gone now, it only last about three seconds."

I slowed down getting ready to fly out of my office and sat back down in my chair. "Call our doctor, the number is by the bed. She'll know, or check one of the labor and delivery books that Bella has somewhere."

"Ok," Alice sounded a little out of breath.

"It may not even have been a contraction. It could have just been cramping. Like maybe the babies are turning." I offered. I had gone through the books as much as Bella had so I knew everything that was supposed to be happening right now. Or maybe it was a contraction, they could start as early as 26 weeks gestation.

"So just call her doctor?" Alice confirmed.

"Yeah, and call me back. Just make sure Bella is resting, and that she's comfortable. I should be home in about five hours."

"All right. Thanks, Edward. I'll call you back in a little bit."

I thanked Alice again and hung up settling back into my chair once more. Now I couldn't wait to get home. I just wanted to be with my Bella and our little girls. I thought of reading to them tonight and began to mentally go over the selection of books we had in the nursery. I thought of something traditional, something fun. Maybe Dr. Seuss.

I had shut my eyes and was contemplating going over the two original compositions that had been turned in by students in separate classes when my cell phone buzzed again. It was Alice relaying back to me the information that Dr. Webber had given her.

What Bella experienced could very well have been a contraction and it meant that her cervix would begin dilating, or had begun dilating. It was starting to stretch and make room for when the babies would be born. Alice told me there was nothing to worry about right now, unless Bella started having more frequent, longer, and more painful contractions.

I hung up with Alice and opted to spend the next couple of hours going over the compositions that had been turned in. I was basically checking them for harmony and wrongly placed notes. They were both for the piano so reading them was like reading a novel for me. I flew through the first piece since it was only a partial and the student wanted to know how she was doing so far with it.

The second piece was a longer, and much more complicated. It had a ton of crescendos and an arpeggio at the end, and the entire piece was to be played allegro. This young man had obviously been writing music for quite a few years now. It was an impressive piece and I would be more than willing to allow him to play it as a final presentation, but it was too long to be played as the first required performance.

I played the notes in my head as I read over them, watching them dance up and down the scale, nodding my head to the harmony I was hearing. I marked a few wrong placed notes and added notes and arrows in the margins about where a few other notes, and measures could be re-written or switched around for better effect. I threw in a fermata here and there and noted that they were only suggestions and should at least be tried. There was one point in the piece where I added a bright red note for three measures to be slowed down, and then the original tempo pick up again.

It took me two hours to completely go over a piece that would take about ten minutes to play. It was beautifully composed and flowed in my mind's ear easily. I dropped the two papers in the basket on my desk labeled 'Finished Work' and went about cleaning up for the weekend and then finally settled down for an hour to do some mandatory paperwork that being head of the department required.

Kate stuck her head in my door around six and told me she was going home for the evening. She asked if I would like her to wait for me and I accepted saying I would be out in a minute. I had received no more panicked phone calls from Alice so I assumed everything at home was all right. She should be cooking dinner, or at least getting it ready to be served. I had been a gracious brother this morning and left a pot roast in the slow cooker. All Alice had to do was ladle out some of the juices and broth and thicken them up on the stove with a little flour and seasoning to make gravy and pop biscuits in the oven. It wasn't too complicated; I had left instructions on the fridge for her.

"So how is Bella doing?" Kate asked as we walked out to the faculty lot.

"She had a small contraction today. Alice called me all panicked."

"Is she ok?"

I nodded convincingly. "Yeah, she's fine. It's normal. She should be having some contractions right now and as she gets closer they become more pronounced and much sharper."

Kate winced. "Oohh, I can't imagine how painful that's going to be for her."

"Bella is strong, she can handle it. I know she can do this." I said proudly, smiling to myself when I thought of what this entire experience was bringing us.

"Who's going to be in the room, or are you two having a Caesarean?"

"No, Bella wants a natural birth. I'm going to be in the room, no one else. Bella wanted Alice in there as well, but when we pre-registered at the hospital we were told that only I could be in there since there were going to be two or three other nurses as well as our doctor in there."

"Why so many nurses, aren't there usually only two?" Kate asked, her brows drawing together a little in confusion.

"Typically yes, and we asked this same question. But because Bella is having twins they want an extra nurse in there. I'm sure I'll be one side holding her hand and a nurse on the other."

Kate laughed to herself lightly and I looked at her asking what was funny. "I can just see her cursing you out and screaming that it's all your fault."

I laughed too, because honestly I could see Bella doing that as well. "I don't think she will, though. We agreed that if the pain becomes too much for her she's getting Demerol."

"You have to be careful with that, it could make her really loopy."

"So we've read." I chuckled. I could just see Bella getting silly from the Demerol. "I'll see you Monday." I called as we split and headed in different directions toward our cars.

"Bye," Kate called as she unlocked her Sedan and got in.

I was home in fifteen minutes and I could smell the smoke from outside. I rushed in and found Alice cursing at the stove as the gravy she had epically failed at preparing was bubbling over and splattering everywhere. Thankfully the smoke alarm had not gone off yet.

She looked up relieved to see me and started to explain what happened as I grabbed a cookie sheet from a low cabinet and started waving it in front of the smoke alarm. Alice shoved a couple windows open and I turned the range off.

"It's just gravy, Alice, how did you fuck this up?"

"I don't know," Alice yelled at me. She took off the oven mitt she was wearing and threw it down. "Can you fix it?"

"This," I gestured to the pot, "no, but I can start fresh. Go upstairs and ask Bella how hungry she is."

Alice sighed dramatically and stomped upstairs. I noticed that the oven was on so I pulled it open and checked the biscuits inside; at least they weren't ruined. I turned the heat down on them a little so I could focus on the gravy and not burn two things at once.

"She's starving," Alice announced as she walked back down the stairs.

I was standing at the range stirring a fresh pot of gravy. I had ladled some more of the broth, added flour and seasoning and was letting it simmer and thicken up on its own. "Don't touch it." I ordered my sister as she sat down on a high stool at the center island.

"No argument from me," Alice held her hands up in a mock surrender.

I grabbed some plates down from the cabinet above the sink and utensils from the drawer. As far as I knew Jasper was working late tonight so Alice would be here for dinner. As soon as the gravy was done I served up three plates of the pot roast, which at this point was so tender it was falling apart. I added a biscuit and spoonful of gravy to each plate and picked up two asking Alice to grab the third and all of the utensils.

We walked upstairs slowly and entered the master bedroom where Bella was resting sitting up and reading a pregnancy magazine. "Hi," she greeted me with a bright smile and her eyes practically danced at the meal I had for her.

"Sorry I didn't come up right away, I had to fix dinner."

"That's ok, we're famished over here, aren't we?" Bella asked her belly. I set the plates down carefully on the bedside table I had put in here for her and helped her to scoot over to the edge so she could sit up and have her meal.

"Any more contractions?" I asked taking a bite of my dinner.

"No, and I was actually quite comfortable afterwards. It hurt, but it was only for three seconds or so, maybe five. Dr. Webber asked us to keep her posted."

I nodded. "How are you feeling right now?"

"Good, I'm really enjoying this, thank you, baby."

I leaned over and gave Bella a quick kiss. "You're welcome. I just won't ask my dear sister to finish dinner off for me anymore." I snickered and smirked at my sister.

"Bite me," Alice muttered as she placed a forkful of beef in her mouth.

Bella wasn't kidding when she said she was starving and practically licked her plate clean. She sopped every little bit of gravy with her biscuit and her eyes closed at one point as she moaned over my food. Only I had ever done that before, and it was usually when she made spaghetti. No one could make spaghetti with real homemade meat sauce like Bella. I actually got a boner the first time I tried her cooking.

After dinner Alice and I took the plates downstairs and cleaned up quickly. I thanked her for being such a trooper though all of this so far and she said it was no problem. She really enjoyed spending time over here with Bella, and it was helpful as well since right now Alice was the primary photographer and she needed every bit of Bella's advice that she could get.

Once Alice left for the night I went back upstairs to my wife, who resumed her position sitting up against the headboard, pregnancy magazine back in her hands. "Feel like a book?" I asked her stopping in the doorway.

"Sure, will you rub my feet and lower back after, though? They really hurt."

"Absolutely," I headed down the hallway and grabbed a Dr. Seuss book from the nursery. "This one ok?" I asked holding up the_ A B C _book.

"Starting a little early, aren't we?" Bella asked setting her magazine aside. I got on our bed beside her and started reading the alphabet to our little girls, Bella chuckling above me at some points. Her belly moved a couple times as our girls rolled around in there. I didn't know if they were protesting or enjoying the rhyming.

When I finished Bella took my hand and placed it on her swollen bulge. I could feel both of our girls kicking lightly, it seemed like they were happy. "I think they enjoyed that," Bella smiled at me as she ran her fingers through my hair.

"I think they did, too. I might need to do this again tomorrow."

"Will you rub my back now?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, move forward a little." I got behind Bella and had her lean forward a little so I could rub on the small of her back. I used the circular motions that the instructor at her Lamaze class had shown us helped relieve tension and stress on the nerves and muscles. When Bella eventually began labor I was supposed to rub her back the same way to help alleviate some of the pain she would experience.

When I finished her back Bella sighed gratefully and moved back against the headboard and I moved to her feet drawing one into my lap. Her ankles were swollen a little, but nothing bad. I rubbed each foot thoroughly and watched as Bella relaxed more and more. It made me happy to know I could provide this relief for her now. There was only going to be so little I could do in a couple weeks' time.

Time seemed to speed up over the next twelve days and I found myself growing overwhelmingly anxious. Not two days ago I had to run out of class because Alice texted me that Bella was having another contraction, and this one was substantially longer. It lasted nearly thirty seconds, and as soon as it was over Alice had texted me in a panic and I called her telling her to once more contact Dr. Webber.

Alice was now sleeping at our house for the next two days and we needed to watch Bella carefully. We would know when it was time to take her to the hospital. I had a couple first presentations this week and I hoped to be able to get through them without Bella going into labor, but something told me that wasn't happening.

Alice was texting me regularly now, letting me know whenever Bella had another contraction and how long it lasted. So far her total count was up to three, but as soon as her water broke we were going to stop counting altogether.

Today was January 21, and I had two classes of presentations this afternoon. All was quiet at home, so I was planning to get through both classes without interruption. Kate was on standby however should I need to make a mad dash for my car.

Three pieces in and so far no phone calls. I had two girls playing piano and one young man playing the clarinet. As soon as they finished their respective pieces they were free to leave. Two more performances in and still all was quiet. I sat there watching the current student play her violin piece and was concentrating particularly on how she moved her bow.

Suddenly my cell phone went off loudly and the young girl looked up shocked and a little peeved. I had announced at the beginning of class that my phone was on and would more than likely be going off and for everyone to be ready for the interruption.

I grabbed for it in my pocket and quickly flipped it open to read the message from my sister.

_Not a false alarm this time, taking Bella to the hospital. Get your ass over there now!_

I didn't even make excuses as I flew out of my seat and rushed to my office to grab my coat. I quickly explained to Kate to go tell my students that I needed to leave, she knew the reason why, and I rushed back out of the office.

"Good luck," she called to me as I disappeared out the door.

"We're going to need it. " I called back. As soon as I was out of the building I ran for my car and dropped into it, my eyes catching the baby seats in the back. The next time this car went home, those seats would have two little girls in them.

A/N: So we're there everyone! Next chapter bring on the twins! I'll try and have it posted ASAP, I have some homework this weekend and I plan to get together with a friend on campus. Have a great labor day everyone!


	11. Little Bundles

**A/N: Chapter 11, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**BPOV**

I'd had enough at this point of watching Alice flit around my house, as much as I could see from my sedentary life in bed, complaining about this hear and there, or commenting on whether we baby-proofed this and that. I finally got to the point where I told her to shut it and promised up and down that she would _not_ be allowed to design the baptism dresses. Alice pretty much secluded herself to my desk after that.

And only mere moments later the attitude in the room effectively changed.

"Alice," I said in a shaky voice from the bed. She turned and looked at me, her eyes immediately falling to the new puddle on my bed.

"Oh shit!" She jumped out of her chair and quickly grabbed her phone dialing the hospital. I started to sit up in the mean time. It wasn't difficult for me to move, I had to get up and down to pee and all that nonsense, and Edward made he walked me around the bedroom twice a day to keep my legs exercised.

I was sitting on the side of the bed as Alice hung up with the hospital and quickly texted something. She snapped her phone shut and then rushed over to me helping me to stand up. She kept one arm around my back and slung my overnight bag over her other shoulder.

She helped me into my shoes and soon enough we were trekking downstairs very carefully and very slowly. I could already feel a contraction coming on before we even reached the front door. I pressed my hand to the wall for support, watching Alice as she timed me on her watch. I was panting heavily as the pain passed and I could feel sweat already dewing on my forehead. This was the part I was not looking forward to.

"How long?" I asked as I stood up straight with my sister-in-law's help.

"Twenty seconds, come on we need to go."

I was never going to be able to thank Alice properly for everything she was doing for me today. She got me safely down the stairs, out the door and across the icy deathtrap of my driveway, and even buckled me in holding my hand the entire time to the hospital.

I had just been settled into a room after waiting downstairs in the waiting area for over an hour. Not five minutes after we arrived Edward rushed through the front door snapping his head around looking for me. When he noticed me waiting he ran over and immediately dropped down onto his knees in front of me.

"You ok,"

"For now, I love your sister." I managed, wincing a little. My body was so sore from all the moving around. I wasn't used to it after five weeks of being confined to bed. Edward made himself comfortable next to me and kept my hand grasped between both of his.

"Did you run out of class?" Alice asked leaning around my massive form. I would've laughed if I thought it was funny.

"I had to," Edward responded, not repeating her motion. I was going to remember that. That earned him extra time in bed when my body was up for it again. "Kate took over for me, I asked her to find someone to cover the class for the next couple of days."

"That's good." Alice leaned back in her sleep, a mute point, since just then the nurse called my name and escorted the three of us up to maternity.

So now here I lay in my dreaded hospital gown in a bed with rails on the side and that stupid pulse counter thing on my index finger. I had been lying here maybe five or ten minutes when the contraction hit.

Edward, who was refusing to leave my side unless he thought his bladder would explode, grabbed my hand and held it firmly as I squeezed back, counting the seconds as they passed.

"Twenty seconds again," he said quietly as I settled back down. "What's the pattern again?"

"The longer and closer together they get, the closer we are to having them."

"And what's your magic number?"

"Nine to ten centimeters."

Edward sat back in his chair and raked his hand through his hair. I could tell he was tired; he was up with me most nights because I couldn't sleep, and he didn't think it was fair. So he stayed up and read to the girls from the books we had bought them. Of course it did him no good in the morning when he looked like hell and spent his first class drinking pots of coffee, but he had already explained to his supervisor the situation at home, and being a woman, she completely understood and granted him a leniency for now.

So, Alice being the angel that she is had gone downstairs to fetch two coffees, both for the man currently at my side. I doubted Alice needed any more caffeine that what her body already produced naturally. It was the only explanation for her constantly over the top energetic attitude.

"Bless you, my sister." Edward sighed in relief as Alice entered the room with two steaming cups and one plain paper cup. He took his coffee and sipped it eagerly.

"Ice chips," she said handing me the plain cup. "Don't make that face," Alice chastised me as she plopped down into another one of the chairs. "You heard the good Dr. Webber, no food in case they need to give you something for pain. You know you're a lightweight, and not only will it make you topsy turvy, you'll probably get sick, too."

"Bit me, Alice," I sneered at her, and started crunching on my ice chips. I'll admit; they distracted me from my sore, tired body, but not enough to help me forget about how hungry I was. "Can't I have soup or something, I'm starving?"

"I'll ask later, just eat your ice." Alice dug into her oversized purse and yanked out a portfolio of photos she had been working on for the last few days. She retrieved her marking pencil and began thumbing through the pictures checking off some, and putting Xs through others.

For the next few hours Alice busied herself with work and Edward worked his way through the Sudoku book he had packed in my bag. Smartass. I would always hate him for it, but I secretly loved that I could crosswords in pen without messing up and he had to use pencil. Where he may be logical, I was just plain smart.

Dr. Webber came in to check on me at one point as she was making rounds today. As soon as Alice had called the hospital they contacted Dr. Webber to let her know and she informed me they would remain in constant contact until it was time for her to actually deliver my babies. Today was her day in the hospital, lucky me.

Alice was asked to leave the room for a couple minutes while my doctor checked to see how I was dilating. After she told me I could relax I glanced at her face and didn't like what I saw.

"You're not progressing as quickly as I'd like, considering that your contraction have picked up a bit. You're still only about three centimeters. I'll come back in an hour or two, or a nurse will and we'll check you again. If you haven't progressed further we'll discuss potential options." She patted my leg and smiled at me reassuringly, telling both Edward and me that it was nothing to worry about for the time being.

"You should just relax right now and rest, your body is going to need the energy. Just let it do the work for you. Most women are under the impression they need to do the work during labor, but honestly you don't have to do much. Your body does practically everything for you and in the end all you need to do is, literally, just help things push along."

"Great, I can't wait." I said very sarcastically, slumping back into my pillow.

"Someone will be by again. Just rest, Bella." Dr. Webber smiled at me and then turned to my husband. "And don't stress, it won't help her."

"I'll try not to."

Alice came back in once our doctor left and we filled her in on everything. "Good thing I didn't bother calling the rest of the family yet to come over. It would be a waste of time."

"They're all already on red alert, Alice." Edward commented not looking up from the current Sudoku puzzle he was working on. "Don't get their hopes up any higher."

"Which is why I didn't call them, dumbass."

I suddenly winced and grabbed for Edward's hand. "Will you two shut up and someone count, I'm having another contraction."

"Still nothing," I asked the nurse once she was done checking me. I relaxed my legs and she shook her head slowly.

"No, not much. You're still the same. I'm going to go find Dr. Webber and she'll be right in to talk with you." I nodded my thanks as she left.

"Fabulous," I complained leaning back in the bed. Edward got up from his seat placing his book off to the side and stood up next to me leaning over and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

"Do you realize how hard it is for me not to be freaking out right now about something being wrong?"

I reached up and cupped his face with one hand, the wrong hand, and I felt the needle pull just a little bit and I winced. Edward lowered my hand, kissing my palm before he laid it back down on the bed.

"I do realize, baby, I just wish this was over with at this point. I don't want to wait anymore. It's already been ten hours."

"I know, sweetheart, but you know in the end this is all going to be worth it. That's what I keep telling myself to try and stay calm. I just keep thinking about how beautiful our girls are going to be when they get here."

I sighed heavily, and suddenly I squeezed his hand where it lay in mine as another contraction rocked through my body. They were now at least an hour apart. Edward timed it in his head as he squeezed my hand back and sighed when I let it go. "Forty seconds," he whispered.

"They're becoming unbearable."

"Do you want something for the pain?"

"Not yet,"

Edward settled back down into his seat and not a moment too soon, since the door opened and Dr. Webber entered with a chart in her hands. "I have a couple options for you both," she started, flipping through the papers as she sat down on the stool at the end of the bed.

"We can wait another hour or so, see what happens, or I can try and induce the dilation, or I have a third option and it may sound very unorthodox to you, but it has worked for a number of my patients in the past without any complications."

"And what is this very unorthodox option?" Edward inquired, shifting slightly in his seat.

"Honestly, for you two to go home for a couple of hours and just have sex, in any way that's comfortable. It should move the dilation along very quickly and effectively. You can leave your things here, and come back and we'll check Bella, and hopefully everything will be downhill from there. What do you both say?"

Edward glanced at me looking completely uncomfortable, but not entirely opposed to the idea, I was sure he would love the opportunity to go home, shower, and change, and to check on Aro of course.

"What do you think, baby?" he asked me, reaching over and rubbing my thigh.

"I say its worth a shot, it's not like sex isn't uncommon for us with me in this state."

"Is that your decision?" Dr. Webber asked, rising from her seat.

"Yeah," I said looking up at her, "we'll give it a try."

"Great, I'll let you two get ready to leave and let the nurse know to come by with a wheelchair for you. Call me when you're heading back over, just call my cell phone, I'll have it on me."

"I will," Edward answered calmly, although his voice was strained. After Dr. Webber left he helped me sit up and grabbed some clean clothes for me from my overnight bag. After I was dressed the nurse came by with a wheelchair, and although I knew it was necessary at this point, I still couldn't help laughing.

The drive home was very tense, and I caught Edward glancing at the car seats in the back of the Volvo many times. He had told me after I had been settled into a room that he couldn't until the next time he drove this car home, with those seats filled.

We were a little ahead of ourselves right now, and I know he was disappointed even if he didn't voice it. I reached over and took his hand laying it on my belly. "All in good time." I promised him. That earned a smile in response as we pulled into the driveway.

Edward had called Emmett earlier in the afternoon and asked to come by and break up all of the ice in the driveway and put it out on the street. He was supposed to come by every day for the next few days and make sure it didn't start building up again from the water that was pumping out of the ground through the sump-pump and down the driveway.

Not one of Edward's brightest moments to arrange it that way, but things had been so hectic over the past months that he never got around to extending it past the driveway right out into the street.

We agreed to do this in the downstairs guest room so I wouldn't have to trek up and down stairs twice in one evening. I sat down on the large bed and rubbed my belly absentmindedly while Edward ran upstairs, literally, and rushed through a shower. He was back in ten minutes, dressed in a fresh button down and jeans and smelling absolutely fuckable.

It amazed me how horny I suddenly was despite the fact that I was in considerable pain. "Was there even a point to getting dressed?" I asked quietly as he walked over to me, "When I'm just going to be yanking your clothes right back off?"

"Habit, sorry," Edward pulled his shirt over his head and undid his jeans sliding them down and kicked them away before yanking his boxers down as well. He helped me out of my clothes leaving my bra on. My breasts had swelled to an ample 38 C and I really didn't feel like having them knock together right now, especially since they were so tender.

Edward laid us down on the bed with him spooning up behind me under the blanket. He pulled my back to his chest and I could feel his already hard erection pressing into my ass. This position seemed the most appropriate and the most comfortable for the time being.

"I apologize now if this hurts at all along the way." He whispered in my ear as he took my leg in his hand and hiked it back over his own.

"It can't be helped, Edward." I whispered back. I felt him position himself, and then he was sliding in. I had to bite my lip to keep from whimpering. It didn't hurt like I expected it to. I was waiting for a burning sensation, or some kind of ripping pain across my lower abdomen, but all I felt was a deep pressure. It was enough to hurt significantly, but then I felt him pass my cervix and suddenly my body relaxed around him. I let out a sigh and my head fell to the pillow.

"You ok," Edward asked after a minute. I nodded sighing contently again. It just felt so good to have him back inside me again, despite the pain.

He pulled out just a little and slid back in slowly. I could tell he was trying to be careful, but also at the same time I knew he was trying to use his size to advantage here and leave as much of himself inside me as he could to help dilate my cervix.

Even though this was all for medical purposes, I couldn't help but want him to just have his way with me. I moaned quietly spurring him on and tried to hide my whimpers from the pain through my moans, but I think he could tell the difference between a sound of pleasure and a sound of discomfort.

I was shocked when I actually came hard about fifteen minutes later, and judging from the grunts behind me and the way Edward was so obviously holding himself back, I could tell he wanted to just pound into me as he came as well.

We both lay there for some time afterward, Edward not withdrawing but not moving any longer as well. We had been home about two hours when we decided to head back over to the hospital. Before leaving, though, Edward gave me a quick sponge bath with warm soapy water and rubbed my shoulders and lower back.

Both helped to sufficiently relax me, but did nothing to quell the pain from the contraction that hit as soon as we were ready to walk out the door. It was nothing like the ones from earlier and seemed to linger even longer. I wrapped my arms around Edward as tightly as I could and screamed into his chest as tear flowed down my cheeks.

His entire body was tense as he let me go and looked down into my eyes, my own pain reflected in them. He thumbed away my tears gently and rubbed my lower back in big, soothing circles.

"Lets go," he said whisking me out the door. We made it back to the hospital in record time, Edward calling ahead during the drive. A nurse met us with a wheelchair ready for me.

By the time I was back in my hospital gown and settled back into my bed another contraction hit, and I leaned over the side of the bed burying my face in Edward's chest once more as he rubbed my back and squeezed my hand.

Once it passed and the nurse with us at the time finished counting she wrote some things down on my chart at the end of the bed and checked me once more before adding more notes to the chart. She wrote down the time and happily told us that I was now four centimeters and things were looking good. Before she left she promised that Dr. Webber would be by in an hour or so to check on me again.

Half an hour passed before my next contraction hit. It was close to two in the morning at this point, which meant I had been labor for nearly fourteen hours. Edward held my hand and counted in his head as he watched me suffer, the pain reflecting on his face. When the spasms passed I was sweating and breathing heavily.

"I can't take the pain anymore, Edward." I said while trying to take in some oxygen.

"Do you want something for it?"

"Yeah,"

Edward picked up the remote on my bed and pushed the call button. A female voice answered over small speaker above my bed. "What can I do for you?"

"Is there a nurse that can give my wife something for her labor pain?"

"Yes, I'll send her along in a minute. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Ice chips," I requested feebly to Edward, still wincing from the after shocks of the contraction.

"Can she have some ice chips?"

"Sure, I'll have the nurse grab a cup for you. She should be there in a couple minutes."

"Thank you,"

Edward sat back down and took my hand. "I'm getting really nervous, baby. Actually, I'm past nervous, I'm petrified. I don't know if I can do this."

Edward took my hand between both of his and squeezed it gently. "You can do this. I know you can, and I'm going to be right here with you the entire time. You're not doing this alone; remember that. You've never had to do this alone. Not for a moment."

I smiled weakly and leaned over to kiss him. "Thank you," I settled back against my pillow and took in a deep breath. "I'm glad you're here."

Edward leaned over me and kissed my forehead "Where else am I going to go?" he whispered to me, cupping one side of my face.

"Fair point,"

There was a faint knock on the door and Edward said it was all right to come in. A nurse walked in and checked my chart as she handed me a cup of ice chips. "So you're finally ready for some Demerol, huh?"

"Please," I requested, crunching down on a couple chips.

"All right," she looked over something on my chart and said she would be right back with the syringe.

"I wonder where I'm getting the shot?" I mused sarcastically.

"Probably in your hand, she'll just stick in the needle in your IV and inject it, or maybe do it through this thing." Edward indicated the hanging stand next to my bed with my IV drip bag of sugar water.

"I just don't want her to stick it in my arm or anything." I crunched a few more chips. The nurse came back in brandishing a syringe and stuck it in a dispenser on my hanging stand and pushed the plunger down.

"That should help for a little while. When was the last time you were checked?"

"About forty minutes ago." I answered finishing off my ice chips.

"Any more contractions since then?"

"About ten minutes ago, it was forty-five seconds." Edward answered from memory.

"All right, I want to check you again, your chart says you were four centimeters, so hopefully you've dilated a little more." The nurse grabbed an exam glove from the box by the sink and had me scoot down the bed as I always did and part my knees for her. "Five and a half, that's very good. You're moving along now."

"How much longer do you think?" I asked, sitting back up.

"Judging on your rate right now and the rate that your contractions are coming we're going to start checking you every thirty to forty minutes. So hopefully, not much longer, but every woman is different. Rest for now, try and sleep. The pain should be substantially less in a few minutes."

As soon as she was gone Edward picked up his Sudoku book and started a new board. I tried to shut my eyes, but I felt myself getting…fuzzy, as the minutes passed. I turned my head at one point and smiled at my husband reaching over and tapping the book.

"Having fun?"

"Tons, you?"

"Oh yeah," I answered. I felt good now; I felt light. There was still some pain, but it wasn't as sharp, just as that kind nurse had promised. I loved the nurses here; they were so nice and friendly.

"You ok?" Edward asked a few minutes later, after I stopped giggling at him.

"I'm fine, why?"

"You're acting strange."

"You look strange," I retorted back at him. Edward snorted.

"I think they gave you too much pain stuff. Alice wasn't kidding when she said you were a lightweight." He stuck the eraser of his pencil between his teeth and concentrated on his Soupdoku, or whatever it was called.

I laughed out loud all of a sudden and started twirling a piece of my hair between my fingers. "You're hot," I blurted out at him, and reached over running my fingers through his thick tangle of bronze hair. He didn't respond. "You have the greatest sex hair, baby. I just want to grab fistfuls of it." I continued raking my hand through his hair.

Edward groaned and I didn't know if it was agitation or arousal. I laughed at the sound. But suddenly another contraction shook through my body, and although it didn't hurt as intensely right now, I still squeezed my eyes shut and held Edward's hand.

"Fifty seconds," he breathed locking it away in his memory. As if on cue the door opened and Dr. Webber walked in.

"How are we doing in here?" she asked putting a glove on. "Scoot down for me, Bella."

"I think the nurse gave her a tad too much Demerol." Edward commented. I flinched a little as Dr. Webber checked to see how dilated I was, but it was all pressure.

"Is she acting a little goofy right now?"

"Very," Edward confirmed.

"Any recent contractions?"

"Just a couple minutes ago, it was fifty seconds."

Dr. Webber nodded as she noted the time and filled out information on my chart. "You're seven centimeters now, Bella. Almost there,"

I just smiled and nodded my head relaxing back against my pillow with a sigh. I turned and looked at Edward once Dr. Webber had left. "Did you call my parents at any point?"

"Alice did," He responded, "They said they're flying out here in the morning, your dad had the graveyard shift tonight."

"Ah," I sighed again and tried to turn on my side a little but it hurt so I just remained on my back. "I hope they get here before it's too late in the afternoon. Then they'll miss visiting hours."

"Baby, visiting hours are all day. Don't worry."

"I wish my mom could be here with me."

Edward looked down at me and ruffled my hair. "Do you want me to call my mother?"

"No," I sat up a little and winced at the discomfort for a moment before settling into an easier position. Edward kept his hand on my back to help steady me. "She probably wouldn't be allowed in the room once its time anyway."

"Yeah, you're right." Edward gazed into my eyes for a moment as he brushed a lock of hair from my eye. Then he leaned down and kissed me, his hand moving to cradle to my oversized stomach. "Want me to rub your back a little?"

"Yeah…" I said happily as a smile reached my lips. Edward helped me turn onto my side away from him and pulled the blanket down so he could rub my back through the hospital gown.

"Is this helping?"

"A little, it feels good." I shut my eyes allowing the soothing motions to put me to sleep.

A sharp pain ripping across my abdomen woke me up and I gasped loudly. Edward shot up in his seat next to me, his hand automatically reaching for mine. "What is it, another contraction?"

"Yes," I squeaked out, "And I think the pain meds are wearing off because this one really hurts…Oh my God!" I squeezed his hand hard enough that I could feel bones meshing together under the skin. Why wouldn't this one stop?

"Minute and three seconds." Edward said once I relaxed a little.

"How long was I asleep for?"

"Ten minutes, and you're last one was fifteen minutes ago."

As his hand reached for the call button Edward asked me, "Do you want me to call for Dr. Webber?"

"I don't know, what do you think? At least a nurse,"

Edward pressed the call button and had a brief conversation with the lady at the reception desk who promised a nurse was on her way. I relaxed back down, still holding Edward's hand; I wasn't letting go now.

"You think you're ready?" Our nurse asked walking in, Dr. Webber right behind her.

"Maybe, I have no idea, but the contraction I just had really hurt, worse than any of the others before."

"Well, lets check you first and see how far along you are before we need to worry about anything else." Dr. Webber said taking a glove and snapping it on.

I scooted to the edge of the bed and assumed my usual position for this, flinching once more as she checked me. "Guess what, Bella," She smiled at me.

"I'm nine centimeters,"

"Yes you are, so why don't we try one push. You think you can do that for me?"

My stomach suddenly twisted into knots and I wanted to throw up. _No, I can't do that for you, I'm too scared! _Sensing my obvious hesitancy to answer, Edward gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm right here," he whispered to me.

"Ok," I answered quietly, my eyes shut. I felt tears bristling and my whole body shaking. I was officially beyond petrified. I didn't have too much to stress about since another contraction decided to hit and I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming.

Dr. Webber stood at the foot of my bed counting it out as Edward wrapped me up in his arms. I couldn't keep it in any longer, I howled into his chest as tears streamed down my face again.

"Let me check, Bella, one your babies may be crowning now." I took a couple deep breaths as my body relaxed and let my knees fall apart. I tried to remember everything from my classes but my mind was drawing a total blank on breathing techniques and how to stay calm.

I was in too much pain right to even care.

"Bella, I'm going to need you to start pushing now, so get in a comfortable position and let me know when you're ready, ok. It's going to be all right. This will all be over before you know it and you'll have two beautiful daughters."

"Uh huh," I nodded as I started to sit up. Edward and I had already discussed what position we wanted to be in together for this moment. He got up on the bed behind me parting his knees and pulling me back against his chest as we scooted closer to the end of the bed.

He kept one hand on the underside of my right thigh helping to hold my legs open and he wrapped his other arm around my chest. I grasped at it with both hands and looked to Dr. Webber.

"Are you ready, Bella?" She asked. I nodded slowly, my eyes squeezing shut. "All right, I need you to push hard through your contractions, let your body do the work remember. Take a breath for me," she glanced up at Edward as she situated herself at the end of the bed, "Count to ten for her every time, each push needs to be ten seconds."

Edward nodded behind me and dropped a kiss to the top of my head. "You're strong, you can do this, Bella. I love you,"

"I love you, too."

"Take another breath, Bella, let it out. Breathe in, and push."

I curled forward slightly bearing down against my own body, the pain rocking through me was like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life. There was no other to describe it except just a sharp stabbing pain low in my abdomen. I tried not to cry out, but a few whimpers escaped my lips as Edward whispered those dreadful numbers in my ear.

It seemed to take forever for him to reach ten, but when he did I relaxed a little and breathed for a moment before Dr. Webber told me to push again. The pain was more intense this time as a contraction hit just when I started to push. I tried to push with it as it rolled through my body, but the pain was just so sharp I couldn't breathe.

"All right, Bella, relax for a minute, relax. I don't want you to wear yourself out. Keep breathing normally. Edward, try rubbing her back a little."

I felt his hand leave my thigh and he started rub long, smooth lines up and down my spine, curling me forward a little so he could reach my lower back. I bit down into his arm a little another contraction hit.

"Push through it, Bella, not against it." Dr. Webber advised me. "I know it hurt, sweetheart, but you're almost there."

Once Edward stopped counting I fell back against him panting. "You're doing so great, baby." He said rubbing my arm gently. "You can do this, I know you can."

"I still have one more after this-God!" I screamed leaning forward.

"Easy, Bella, you're right there. Push really hard for me."

"I…can't…" I panted, "I can't." I collapsed back against Edward.

"Yes you can, come on. I've got you. I'm right here."

I sucked enough air and leaned forward holding onto Edward's arm so hard I was sure my nails were digging into his skin. "That's it, baby, come on, come on. Oh God, Bella…"

His voice sounded full awe and shock and I was sure he must have been watching over my shoulder because I suddenly felt something slip from my body and a shrill cry filled the room.

"You did it, baby, I'm so proud of you!" Edward whispered excitedly kissing my temple.

"One more, Bella. You're doing great so far. Take a deep breath and push hard for me."

I grabbed Edward's arm and leaned forward bearing down like I had with my first baby. This one hurt less, not by much, but she still hurt. I was whimpering once Edward stopped counting and I could barely catch my breath.

Dr. Webber didn't give me a moment she told me to keep going. Edward placed his hand between my shoulder blades and helped to push me forward a little more. His arm moved to just below my breasts holding me securely against his body.

"Keep pushing, Bella, don't stop you're right there, honey."

I leaned forward breathing in just enough air and screamed into my own chest feeling nothing else but the sharp pain that ripped upwards through my body. And then there was more crying and Edward hugging me and kissing the side of my face.

I felt moisture left behind and turned to look up at him panting to see tears running down his face. "Look," he whispered. I turned my head to Dr. Webber just in time for her to place a tiny pink and purple wrinkly little person on my chest.

I leaned back against Edward holding our second daughter for the first time as she cried. A nurse quickly toweled off the little amount of blood as I just held this tiny, hot body to mine.

"Edward, she's so beautiful." I whispered as our daughter continued to cry in my arms. He removed his arm from around my ribs and stroked our daughter's cheek.

"We're going to clean her up, but here's your first born." Dr. Webber said as another nurse I'd never heard enter the room, walked over with a pink blanketed bundle already cleaned up and calmed down, a pink beanie on her head.

"Oh my God…" I sighed as she placed the tiny bundle in my arms.

I ignored the slight discomfort between my legs as Dr. Webber cleaned me up. Edward and I were too busy staring into the impossibly beautiful hazel eyes of our first-born daughter.

"She looks just like you," I whispered, gazing down into her eyes. "Your face, both of our eyes."

"The shape is yours, though." Edward traced her faint, fine eyebrow. "I'm so proud of you, Bella." He said earnestly. He pressed his lips to the top of my head and rubbed the tops of my arms.

After a couple more minutes of just gazing at our daughter the nurse brought our second over, and very, very carefully I scooted far enough forward so Edward could slowly get off the bed. He helped settle back against the pillows with our first daughter still in my arms, and then he sat down in the chair beside my bed and the nurse placed our second daughter in his arms.

"Bella, just keep your knees parted for a few minutes more, all right." Dr. Webber requested. "You're clean for the moment, but I'll still need to deliver the afterbirth."

I nodded, barely acknowledging her; I couldn't tear my eyes away from either of my girls. The last nine months and fifteen hours had been worth every little bit of pain, every bit or irritation and bout of morning sickness.

"Do you two have names picked out for them?" Dr. Webber asked coming to sit on my other side for a moment.

"Yes, our first daughter is Payton Isabella Cullen, and our second is Hailey Elizabeth Cullen." Edward said quietly. I watched Dr. Webber scribbled the names down on a pad along with some other information.

"Bella, you did a very good job. One of my best patients."

"Really," I asked, finally looking away from Payton, as was her name now.

"Really,"

"Thank you, and thank you so much for everything you've done for us. You're a great doctor."

"Thank you, Bella. Congratulations to you both." She said standing. She handed the paper she had written on to one of the nurses as she walked out and asked me if I could scoot down the bed just a little for a minute.

The only nurse left took Payton for a moment and then quickly handed her back to me after Dr. Webber finished cleaning me up a second time. Nothing really hurt that time, and I hadn't expected it to, it was just my body expelling the little after bits.

"You can relax now, Bella."

I folded my legs under the blanket and scooted back up against the large pillow. Glancing over at Edward made me gasp; he was holding a stare with our daughter, Hailey, holding her tiny hand in his own. He was gazing at her with love and adoration, and she was gazing back with what could only be described as fascination.

"Welcome to the world little one, I'm your daddy." He whispered, and then leaned down and kissed her forehead. The entire moment was so tender I couldn't help but cry. Hailey closed her eyes and was asleep seconds later, Payton following suit in my arms.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked very quietly.

"Yes," Edward answered without hesitating. He looked up at me smiling brilliantly. "I was unsure the last nine months, completely undecided about whether or not we could actually do this. But now they're here, I _know_ we can do it."

I sighed happily and leaned over pressing a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. "Me, too."


	12. Homecoming

**A/N: Chapter 12, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

There was nothing to compare to this; nothing to compare to how it felt to hold my daughter in my arms for the first time. I gazed down into Hailey's hazel eyes as she stared back at me, her tiny fingers curled around one of mine. Very gently I lifted her to me and pressed the softest kiss to her forehead.

"Welcome to the world, little one. I'm your daddy." I whispered. Hailey yawned and her eyes shut slowly. Looking over at Bella and Payton, I noticed that our first born daughter had fallen asleep as well.

"Are you ready for this?" Bella asked me.

"Yes," I answered with no hesitation. All of my insecurities and doubt that I had been feeling over the last nine months dissipated as I looked down to my daughter in my arms. Bella leaned over and pressed a kiss to my lips.

"Me too," she whispered.

"Together,"

"Together," Bella repeated.

We sat there for some time just holding our girls as they slept. Eventually a nurse came back in and asked us to let her take our daughters to the nursery for the rest of the evening and we would be able to see them again in the morning. We were both reluctant to give them up for the night, but as soon as Payton left Bella's arms, my wife yawned widely and slumped back against her pillows.

"Sleep with me," she asked once the nurse left with our daughters. She lifted the blanket on her bed inviting me up with her. I got into the hospital bed beside her without thinking twice about it and pulled Bella into my arms.

"I am so proud of you." I stroked her cheek and leaned in kissing her softly. "Oh, we never called my parents."

"Oops," Bella smirked sheepishly as the realization hit her as well. "Call them, I mean it's late and they can't come over at this point, but they should at least know."

I sat up pulling my cell phone out and Bella sat up as well cuddling into my side as I dialed my father's cell phone. We had called them earlier to let them know that Bella had gone into labor and the twins were due at any time, so at least they knew that.

"Oh my God, did she have them?" Alice's voice asked excitedly. Why she was awake at three AM – Oh wait, it's Alice she never sleeps.

"Why are you answering dad's phone?"

"He's asleep and said I could have phone duty. Well, come on tell me. Better yet, send pictures."

"Can't, Alice, sorry. They've been taken to the nursery for the night. But we have two girls, Payton Isabella born at 2:11 AM, seven pounds and five ounces, nineteen inches long; and Hailey Elizabeth born 2:13 AM, seven pounds eight ounces, and nineteen and a half inches long."

"Ohh…What time can I come see you two tomorrow?" She asked excitedly.

"I think visiting hours start at ten.

"We'll be there," Alice promised. "I can't wait to see them. Oh my goodness, two girls. You're out numbered now, big brother." Alice chuckled gleefully.

"I'm very aware of that thank you, Alice."

Alice sighed heavily, happily and once again gushed how proud she was for us and would be sure to awaken our parents and spread the news to them and the rest of the family.

"Before I forget, how many people can visit at once?"

"Now that the girls are born I don't think it's a problem, I mean Bella's parents will be here tomorrow, and I'm sure Rose, Emmett, and Jasper won't be able to come over until the evening because they're all working."

"True, all right, I'll let you get back to Bella. I'm sure she's exhausted."

Glancing down to where my wife was currently nestled under my arm, passed out, I'd say that was a definite yes. "She's beat. I won't be surprised if she starts snoring."

Alice chuckled lightly and once again wished me congratulations and a good night before hanging up. After I placed my cell phone on the small bedside table I adjusted my position on the bed so I could pull Bella against me and hold her as she slept.

Bella spent the next three days in the hospital recovering before she was released. My family and her parents visited everyday, always taking more and more pictures of our girls, of Bella and I holding them, and pictures of the rest of the family with them.

I'd say by the time we left over two hundred pictures had already been amongst ten members of the Cullen-Swan family. Renee and Charlie were heading back to Washington with six disposable cameras alone and copies and Alice's memory cards that she had made up, along with a few videos she had taken in the room of Payton and Hailey as they slept and as we all took turns holding and feeding them.

Bella was exhausted and thrilled at the same time as our daughters met and became instant friends with their new grandparents and aunts and uncles. But nobody could have possibly been happier than me. To watch as my girls cooed in their mother's arms; held her fingers as gazed up at her…this was just the best feeling in the world.

After being escorted out in a wheelchair, Bell and I carefully and securely placed Payton and Hailey in their car seats before getting into the Volvo ourselves. Bella wanted to sit in the back with them, but after both car seats had been placed we realized there wasn't much room left back there.

We were taking them home alone; a decision we had made with the rest of the family after Bella's parents had left. My mother and Rosalie wanted to accompany us, but we told them this was something we wanted to do alone. Since we were bringing them home in the morning, Esme and Rose would come by some time in the afternoon.

Bella spent nearly the entire trip home with her head turned toward the back seat. Both of our girls were bundled tightly in matching pink blankets and tucked into their seats fast asleep. Both had beanies on their heads and we had placed an extra blanket over each so they would be sure to be warm.

Very gingerly we took them from their seats once we arrived home and carried them inside, leaving our bags in the trunk for now. Emmett had come by and put Aro in his room for us so he wouldn't be barking and jumping up and down as soon as we walked in the door.

Just inside sitting on the kitchen island were two arrangements and two very large gift baskets we had not been expecting. Neither Bella nor I looked at them closely as we passed, and agreed to check them out when we came back down after laying Payton and Hailey in their cribs upstairs.

Bella sighed happily as she opened the door to the nursery and looked around at the puppies theme we had chosen with a soft smile. She turned back to me her eyes falling to where Hailey was pressed to my shoulder, sleeping very soundly in her blankets.

We laid them down in their cribs and tucked them in each of us kissing them both on the forehead. We stood there for God knows how long just gazing down at them, my arm wrapped firmly around Bella. Before leaving she grabbed the baby monitor switching on the one by the cribs and turning on the one that would be our newest accessory around the house.

I let Aro out of his room once we were back downstairs and put him out back to do his business. Bella called me from the kitchen, saying something about the arrangements and baskets being from Alice, of course, and that one was a fruit arrangement and one was flowers.

After letting Aro in I gave him a small cookie for being a good boy and joined Bella in the kitchen. She was munching the strawberries from the fruit arrangement that looked to be both of the red berries and some kind of melon, or maybe mango. It must have just been delivered today, Alice probably being sneaky and getting here early to receive it.

I grabbed one of the strawberries and went to stand behind Bella wrapping both of my arms around her and leaning my head on her shoulder as she read to me the card that had been delivered with everything. Along with the fruit and flowers, six baby pink roses arranged beautifully in a decorative box, there was also two large gift baskets with various items inside for baby girls. Both baskets were exactly the same; a frame, a pink bear, booties, a blanket, and other assorted goodies that we already had dozens of.

Bella spent several minutes alone positively gushing over how small the little booties were, and actually started tearing up a little. I knew they were tears of joy and right now, and for some time, they couldn't be helped.

All was quiet upstairs for the majority of the afternoon, thankfully, because once Esme and Rose arrived the first thing they wanted to do was see the girls again. The four of us entered the nursery silently and we once more gazed down into the cribs where our two beautiful daughters were still sleeping peacefully. I couldn't possibly imagine us being the lucky parents whose children would start to sleep through the night after one month. Not a chance.

The twins finally woke up, within minutes of each other, around dinner time, and Bella excused herself upstairs to feed them while I prepared dinner. Rose had gone home a few hours earlier and in her place was my father, currently helping my mother to set the table. Bella finally descending from the nursery just as I was placing food on the table, dressed in a fresh shirt and pajama bottoms.

"Sorry, I decided to change them as well." She explained as she sat down. "They're sleeping again." She set the baby monitor down on the table as she sat.

"So how does it all feel?" Esme asked both of us.

"Surreal," I answered as I took my seat beside Bella.

"And indescribable," she added as she took some food and passed it around. "It's the most…fulfilling sensation I've ever had."

I smiled at her, showing that I shared her sentiment and caught the look my parents shared as my father reached over taking my mother's hand. "We're so happy for you both. They are the most beautiful baby girls we've ever seen." He said proudly.

"Well I'd hope so, just look at their mother." Bella lightly smacked my shoulder in play.

"So Alice was discussing with me when she wants to take pictures of us and the girls together." Bella brought up some time later once dinner was finished and my parents had left for the evening. We were sitting curled up on our bed, Bella's head in my lap as I played with her hair.

All of a sudden a soft wail sounded over the baby monitor. Bella was up and off the bed in a moment and so was I as I followed her down the hall to the nursery. Aro got up from his position lying in front of the cribs as soon as we walked in the room.

Payton was crying in her crib while Hailey was still asleep. Bella very gently lifted Payton up while I walked Aro out. I was supremely impressed with him today. After my parents left I took him upstairs to finally meet Payton and Hailey and he was much more behaved than I had expected him to be.

I explained to him, as he stood by the cribs sniffing through the bars and the bumpers that blocked his view of the girls, that they were the "visitors" I had told him about a few months ago. I let him stand there and sniff and when he didn't growl or bark I took that as a good sign, but I still didn't want him getting too close just yet.

After introducing him to the new arrivals in the household he laid down in front of the cribs, almost protectively, and feel asleep right away. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to go out and buy stuffed German shepherd dogs for both of our girls as guardians to keep in their cribs with them, just like how Aro was acting as their guardian as they slept.

As soon as Bella finished feeding Payton, Hailey woke up hungry. I left Aro outside the nursery for a couple minutes while I helped Bella by changing Payton and laying her back down to go back to sleep. When Hailey decided she was full I changed her as well while Bella went to the bathroom to clean up.

We let Aro back into the nursery once both girls were sound asleep back in their cribs. Bella turned on the nightlights by the cribs and made sure the baby monitor was still in place. Aro took his place in front of the cribs once more and immediately fell asleep there.

I knew things weren't going to stay this perfect forever, but right now I was going to enjoy the flow of day to day with my newborn twin girls. I told Bella as much as she fell asleep in my arms tonight. She was clearly exhausted and out in minutes of me starting to hum to her. It was a soft melody that had been playing around in my head for some time. A lullaby I was planning to compose for my girls.

All three of them.


	13. Bangles of Love

**A/N: Chapter 13, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

"Hey," I greeted Bella softly taking her shoulders in my hand and kissed the top of her head. She was standing at the kitchen counter screwing lids onto bottles for Payton and Katherine. The pink ones belonged to Payton and the purple to Katherine.

"Hey," she replied, her voice just as soft. She finished her task and turned in my arms as they fell to encircle her waist and hers looped around my neck. We stood there for several quiet moments just holding each other while I mouthed her forehead. I had just started going back to work last week and Bella was home alone for seven hours during the day with the girls.

Right now everything was slow paced since they slept for a good portion of the day and that left time for Bella to keep the house picked up, to rest, and to make sure all other daily chores that needed to get done were done. She wasn't heading back into the studio just yet. We had both agreed to wait until the girls could at least sit up on their own before she returned to work, but for now she and Alice successfully completed their jobs via phone calls, emails, and visits to the house.

Alice had taken over the majority of the photography once Bella hit her seventh month, and then all of the photography when she went on maternity leave. Alice had volunteered to continue with that job until Bella returned to the studio in about four months.

"You feel tense," I noted as I pulled my wife closer to me. I liked still being able to feel a slightly round stomach on her.

"My shoulders do hurt a little." She admitted in a quiet voice.

"Want me to rub them?"

"I want more than that…" Bella leaned forward pressing her lips against my neck. I knew exactly what she meant from the tone in her voice. I wanted it too, but glancing at the clock I noticed that it was almost time to feed the girls again. My desperate cock was going to have to wait a little while longer.

I told Bella as much, and instead of the mood swing I was expecting, she leaned up on her toes and kissed me softly. "Why are you so understanding?"

"Because we're married, we're together, I love you, and we have two beautiful little girls who deserve all of our attention no matter how desperate we are for each other."

Bella pressed her nose into my shirt inhaling the scent of it as she sometimes did when she was stressed out or a little anxious. I don't what about my scent she found so comforting. "You know perfection doesn't actually exist, but I'm willing to write a book about just how perfect you're being right now."

"I'm trying to be a good father, not perfect." I explained to her. I grabbed one of the bottles off the counter as Bella released herself from my arms. She placed the other three in the fridge and we headed upstairs for dinnertime.

"So what do we get to indulge in tonight?" I asked.

"I have bruschetta chicken in the fridge that I'm going to bake once we feed and change Payton and Katherine. You grabbed Katherine's bottle so I'm going to nurse Payton."

"Who was nursed this morning?"

"Katherine, and then I nursed them both this afternoon. I had enough milk to pump out a few bottles."

"I like your breasts right now."

Bella laughed softly and punched my upper arm. "You're such a man." She snickered as we walked into the nursery. Both girls were still sleeping, but they moaned and twisted slightly. They were beginning to wake up. I lifted Katherine from the crib and walked over to the ottoman sitting down with her in my arms and carefully cradled her head in the crook of my elbow before offering her the bottle. I watched as Bella settled down in the rocking chair with Payton in her arms and slipped the strap of her tank top down before throwing a towel over her shoulder for a little privacy.

We paid attention to both girls as we fed them, making sure we kept them supported, and in my case making sure I kept bottle at the right angle. There was nothing worse than a cranky baby due to gas. Well, except maybe a cranky wife.

I looked up at Bella after a couple minutes and just watched as she nursed Payton. Her eyes had gone all soft as she gazed down at her daughter, her hand gently stroking the impressive amount of auburn hair that both girls sported. My breath was taken away. She looked so beautiful.

About halfway through her bottle I got up and placed Katherine at my shoulder as I walked over to the changing table to grab a clean cloth and threw it over my shoulder before I started to pat and rub Katherine's back.

"You're getting really good at that." Bella murmured as she watched me.

"I have a ton of practice." I smiled back at her. "Motherhood really suits you,"

"You think so," Bella looked down to Payton. Her eyes were closed as she nursed and a slight smile graced her tiny pink lips.

"You've never looked more beautiful to me ever."

Bella smiled softly at me for a long moment before returning her eyes back to out daughter. Katherine let out a tiny hiccup, and just to make sure she had nothing left I continued to rub her back for another minute. I earned another hiccup.

After dinner that evening Bella and I secluded ourselves in the living room in front of the fireplace with the baby monitor and two small jewelry cases. Inside each was a circular gold locket. The both had almost the same design around the outer edge, and the same inscription on the inside. "Plus que ma propre vie" – "More than my own life". On the back of one was inscribed "Payton", and the other "Katherine".

"When do you want to give them to the girls?" Bella asked me as she lifted Katherine's locket from its box and held it in the palm of her hand.

"Tonight, next month…it doesn't matter to me." I answered, but then thought about it for a moment. "Tonight," I picked up Payton's locket and held it for a moment before carefully placing it back in the box.

Bella did the same and then reached onto the coffee table for the very heavy photo album that we had been keeping all throughout the pregnancy. She flipped it open to the last set of photos that Alice had just gotten back to us. They were al pictures of us with Katherine and Payton. Bella's favorite was a photo of me against a black backdrop with Payton in my arms. I loved the photo of Bella fast asleep on our bed with Katherine curled against her chest and Bella's arm around her. I had snuck that one and Alice touched it up.

"Do you want to go out for dinner this weekend?" I asked randomly.

"I'd love to…but who would watch the girls?"

"My parents, Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett…I'm sure any of them wouldn't care. Alice would probably jump at the chance."

"I don't know, Edward…I really want to get out for an evening. I really want some alone with you. I miss that, but I'm just…"

"I know, maternal separation anxiety." I reached over and took the photo album from her hands and laid it aside before pulling my wife closer to me. "But we'd be leaving them with family. You can trust my parents or Em and Rose, they have a baby."

"Yes, but Rosalie is already three months pregnant with their second child, I don't want to add our two to their burden, even if just for an evening here and there."

I tucked Bella's head into my chest and kissed the top of it. "I understand you don't want to leave them alone for an evening. You don't want to be away from them, but you said it yourself. You want some alone time."

Bella let out a very deep breath and she relaxed against me some more. "I do. I suppose…" Her voice dropped off for a moment as she thought over whatever was going through her mind. "I suppose leaving them with your parents, or having Esme and Carlisle come here for an evening wouldn't be so bad."

I kissed the top of her head again smiling into her hair. "We'll call them tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok,"

"Want to give the girl's their surprises?"

"Yeah,"

We got up taking the necklace boxes with us and headed upstairs, my arm securely around Bella's waist. Katherine and Payton were sleeping peacefully in their crib, Aro in his usual position in front of them, on guard. His head picked up when we walked in the room, but as soon as he recognized that it was us he went right back to sleep.

I gave him a pat on the head and told him he was a good boy for protecting his "little sisters". Aro's tongue peeked out for a moment as he licked his jaw, and he rolled onto his side assuming a more comfortable position. Bella stood over Katherine's crib watching the entire scene, carefully taking the locket out of the case.

Very gently we placed the small gold necklaces around their necks and made sure the chain was long enough that it wasn't tight, and short enough that they wouldn't move too much in sleep and accidently snap the chains.

"I love them so much, Edward." Bella said to me as we stood there for a minute watching the two of them sleep.

"I love my girls, too, sweetheart. All three of them." I kissed her temple and earned an affectionate pat on my chest in return.

Katherine made the most fascinating little sounds as she grinned at me. Bella held her arms up as Katherine attempted to bear some weight on her chubby little legs. I held Payton the same way and she was smiling at Bella. The girls had their feet up on ours as we carefully walked tiny, tiny steps at a time in a small circle around each other.

Katherine gurgled a little and Payton copied the noise. Both were now grinning at each other as Bella and I passed each other again. I'll admit I was a little apprehensive about having two girls, but I must say that parenting these two little bundles of joy and energy was the most rewarding thing in my life.

Bella sat down and placed Katherine carefully in her lap. I remained standing with Payton still on my toes and walked over, inch by inch, to Bella and Katherine. Katherine reached up with her chubby arms and waved them around as Payton and I got closer. Some indiscernible vowels were issuing from her now.

Bella decided to be sneaky and laid Katherine down on her back then raised her little shirt and starting blowing raspberries on her tiny tummy. Katherine giggled with glee and squirmed beneath her mother. I sat down carefully setting Payton in my lap.

"I think they're finally getting tired." I observed as I watched Payton yawn in my arms.

"Yeah, its bedtime." Bella agreed. I got up first, Payton cradled gently to my shoulder, and offered my hand to Bella to help her up as well.

After laying the girls down in their cribs and kissing each one goodnight we left the door open for Aro who assumed his position in front of the cribs and immediately went to sleep. We weren't even out of the nursery before his snored quietly filled the room.

"I want some personal time with you tonight." Bella said to me as she entered our bedroom. She pushed me lightly forcing me to sit down on the bed. She turned the baby monitor up to full volume, and turned the lights off.

"You could have just said something." I laughed quietly as Bella pushed me again so I was lying flat on my back now across the width of the bed.

"I have crazy mommy hormones." Bella pouted as she straddled my lap. My hands fell to her waist where they grasped her tightly and pulled her down on top of me. Our lips met in a passionate embrace as my arms wound around her and her hands buried themselves in my hair.

Before I knew it both of us were naked and I was groping for a condom in the nightstand. Bella sheathed me before lowering herself onto my hard shaft and beginning to ride me. We worked out a steady rhythm of rocking back and forth, trying not breathe too loudly so we could hear the baby monitor, but also trying not to moan.

God it felt so good to be doing this again after waiting so long for it. Of course I had to make the joke as soon as the girls were home that I wanted to get started on the next set. I actually meant that I just wanted some sex, but Bella had to effectively cockblock me and remind me that there would be no "sexing" between us until six weeks from the day the girls were born.

So the six-week mark came and went and we didn't do anything. Then the eight-week mark, and the nine…still nothing between us. I chalked it up to both of us being tired and in the end that was the cause. Just after nine weeks Bella took me to bed after putting the girls down and made slow and passionate love to me for hours.

It felt so good to be back inside her that night, to feel her above me, around me. Right now felt even better, though, because Bella had started this a bit aggressively, and I loved it when she took control. I loved it whenever she pushed me into a wall and started sucking on my neck as she unbuttoned my shirt. It was the Bella I knew in college; the Bella that I would take home after a night out drinking.

My hands fell to her soft waist holding her there lightly, guiding her movements with pressure. After a couple minutes she grabbed my hands pinning them down on the bed as she bent over me sucking on my neck. I flipped us over so Bella was lying on her back now, her legs around my waist. I pinned her hands to the bed the same way she pinned mine.

I started whispering her name in her ear as my thrusts grew in intensity and speed. I told Bella how much I loved her and I how I much I needed her. My release was approaching fast, and just two thrusts later I was exploding. I collapsed on Bella as easily as I could without hurting her, immediately rolling onto my back with her in my arms. Bella snuggled into my chest with a soft sigh. I pulled off the condom tossing it the trash by the bed.

"Can we do it again?" she asked me a minute later.

I chuckled, reached for another condom, and drew Bella back on top of me.


	14. Dance Before You Crawl

**A/N: Chapter 14, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**EPOV**

"So recap the last few months for me," Esme requested as she sat down beside me under the umbrella.

The entire family had gathered today for a fourth of July party at my parents' house, and by the whole family I mean babies included, of which there were three now. Hailey and Payton were just over six months, and that meant many new things.

On their part; bigger appetites, hopefully sleeping through the night, the introduction of new foods into their diets, the move to the big bathtub (that's going to be fun), and possibly begin weaning them to a bottle full time. But I don't think Bella is going to be up for that any time soon. She enjoys nursing the girls so much and it's easier for her right now since she just returned to the studio.

Only last week the girls were able to pull themselves into sitting positions so we knew it was time to return to work. We had a playpen all set for them and Bella would just plunk them down for the afternoon and let them go about their business within her watchful view.

And it was good to have the girls at the studio, or so Alice gushed to me one evening when she and Jasper came by for dinner.

"They keep the clients well entertained while they wait. They charm everyone who walks through the door!" She smiled while looking over at Hailey and Payton who were sitting up in their pen at the moment smiling and waving at us. Alice couldn't help herself and got up from the table rushing over and scooping Payton up. Hailey just giggled more and waved her hands for Alice to pick her up as well.

I broke from my reminiscing and turned back to my mother. "They've been growing by leaps and bounds, mom. They're absolutely amazing."

"Yes they are, and Bella is glowing."

I followed my mother's gaze to my wife. Bella was glowing. Or maybe it was the way the sun shone on her skin. She smiled brilliantly, holding one of Hailey's fists and one of Payton's as she laughed at both of them. They sat comfortably on the grass in a little patch of sunlight, and I swear Bella was sparkling in her glee.

"Have they spoken any vowels yet?"

"Some, mostly oohhs and aahhs. They giggle, gurgle, everything. I just love watching them. Now I understand why parents wish their babies could stay like this forever. It's just the perfect time."

Esme nodded in agreement. "Yes, I remember when you were six months old. You crawled everywhere you went, reached for what you could and got into any and everything that was around you. You were a very curious baby, you loved to bang on any surface you came across and make up some kind of beat. That was when I knew you would be a musician."

I smiled to myself and looked over to Bella and our girls. She glanced up meeting my eye and blew me a kiss. I patted my heart to let her know I had caught it.

"So how was your first year as head of the music department?"

I turned back to my mother and reached for my drink on the table. "Rough, considering I had to run out on a lot of days and couldn't keep consecutive office hours every day. But I think now that the girls are born and they'll be about eight months in September, I think this upcoming year will be much easier."

"That and Bella takes them to work with her now, and Alice helps I'm sure."

"Oh yeah, she helps." I leaned in closer to my mother and whispered, "I think she's trying to get in as much practice as possible. She told Bella that she and Jasper have started trying to get pregnant, but I'm not supposed to repeat that to anyone. So shh…" I put my finger to my lips, and Esme smiled in acknowledgement. I trusted my mom not to say anything to her daughter.

"So Rose and Emmett know they're having a girl." She commented a few minutes later, her eyes drifting across the deck to her other son and his wife. Rose was growing nice and round with her second child, and currently chastising her husband, one hand on her lower back and the other in his face as she reprimanded him for something.

I laughed to myself watching the two of them argue over something that was more than likely trivial. Rose just loved to complain. It was her talent. I don't want to sound mean, but if there was an Olympic medal awarded for whining Rose would win without any competition.

Emmett kept his eyes on his wife as much as he could in between glancing at his 27-month old son as he ran around chasing an oversized beach ball. It bumped into Bella and she looked behind her just as Nate crashed to his knees next to her.

Bella helped him up and gently pushed the ball so he could keep chasing it. "Nate, what do you say to Aunt Bella for helping you?" Emmett called.

"Thank you, Aunt Bella." Nate called as he kept chasing his ball every time he kicked it.

Emmett turned back to his wife as she sat down on a chair. He took that as an indication that she wanted something rubbed so he sat down and pulled her feet into his lap.

"I'm going to go help with the rest of lunch." Esme said as she patted my knee and got up.

"Good, I'm hungry." I teased, smiling up at her as she walked away.

I sipped my beer a couple more times before getting up and walking over to my wife to sit down beside her and pulled Hailey into my lap. "How's my best girl?" I asked her, playing with thick auburn hair on her head.

"I thought I was your best girl." Bella pouted at me.

"I can't choose between the three of you, so you're all my best girls."

"You're such a cheater," Bella smirked at me. She placed Payton in her lap, both two little chubby arms reached out toward the grass for one of the yellow dandelions so Bella placed her back on the lawn on her stomach.

She rubbed Payton's back while we chatted about Rose and Alice and the differences we would see between them once Alice finally became pregnant. Hailey started to reach toward the lawn as well so I placed her on stomach and played with her toes while she giggled insistently.

"This is so relaxing after all the stress lately." Bella sighed, throwing her head back into the sunlight. I ran my fingers through her dark brown hair catching the glints of red her and there in the light.

"You're so beautiful," I whispered to her.

"Charmer," Bella smirked back at me, her eyes closed.

I was so caught up in enjoying Bella's moment of peace that hearing Alice shriek from the deck caught us both off guard and we jumped.

"Oh my God, someone grab the camera!" She called, pointing excitedly at Hailey and Payton. Bella and I turned our gaze to our daughters, and we both erupted in smiles as we watched them pull themselves up on all fours and begin to tentatively crawl forward.

Bella jumped up and ran into the house to grab her recorder, appearing five seconds later with it in hand and flipped it open just in time to catch Hailey and Payton as they started to crawl side by side across the across the lawn.

"This is so amazing," she breathed, watching our daughters get their bearings on all fours and continue their slow movements forward.

I got up to stand behind her and wrapped both of my arms around her waist. "I know," I breathed in her ear. "I love watching them grow. Makes me want more."

"Don't even go there, mister. Not yet." Bella turned over her shoulder and kissed me. "Wait a couple more years before we decided to pop another one out."

"Agreed,"

We stood in silence as Bella kept recording our girls' first crawling expedition. The rest of our family had decided to venture down onto the grass to watch for a couple minutes. I could Alice snapping pictures a mile a minute behind us, and it made me laugh. I tightened my arms around Bella, nuzzling her neck.

"I love you, too." She whispered to me.

I glanced up just in time to watch Hailey and Payton start to head back toward us. They had only crawled about two feet away, and now they wanted to come back. Both had huge grins on their faces. I watched as one little hand came up, one little knee pushed forward, and then both girls repeated the motion on the other side.

I let my wife go and bent down too scoop Payton in my arms first, and then scooped up Hailey settling them both at my waist. Bella continued to record me with our daughters as I walked them back to the deck and placed them in their pen. I heard her walk up the wooden stairs behind me and stand at my shoulder as I leaned over the rail of the pen and kissed both of my daughters on their heads.

Bella put the camera on the table just as Hailey and Payton laid down for a nap. "I'll feed them when they wake up." She settled herself in my lap once I claimed a chair. "I guess learning a new skill wore them out."

I looked over to our twins sleeping, surprisingly, soundly in the shade of the deck. "Guess so," I smiled at my wife. "And hopefully they'll sleep like that as well tonight and give us some time for a little fun of our own."

Just as I had told my mother, Hailey and Payton continued to grow at a rapid pace right before my eyes, and before I knew another months went by and my girls were showing off a range of new abilities.

The little bell over the door of Bella and Alice's studio tinkled welcomingly as I walked through. As soon as I did, Hailey and Payton looked up at the noise and both girls started laughing and reaching for me. Bella's head popped up from behind the front desk, her hands full of pens.

"Hey you," She called lovingly. "I was wondering why they got all excited." She returned the pens to their cup on the desk and walked around to greet me with a soft kiss. "I think someone wants you pretty desperately."

"You mean besides you," I teased, reaching down into the pen to gather Hailey into my arms. She snuggled into my neck cooing softly and shoved her thumb in her mouth.

Bella leaned over and picked up Payton settling her on a hip and we walked into the studio together. They weren't too busy today so both she and Alice were using the day to catch up on some organization and bookwork.

"Well if it isn't Mister Marvelous himself," Alice stuck her tongue out at me like she had when we were kids. Returned it in kind, and suddenly Hailey was sticking her tongue out, too.

"Don't let her copy everything you two do, that'll just mean trouble in the long run."

"So why are you here, big brother?" Alice asked as she hung up some clothes on a rack.

"Do you have a single polite bone in your body, little pixie?" I quipped back.

"Not today, I don't feel like."

"Whatever," I turned to my wife and watched as she and Payton shared a smile between them as they blew kisses to each other. "I came by wondering if you would like to go out to lunch. Just you and me, that is if Alice would be kind enough to look after the girls for a couple hours." I glared at my sister as I finished my request.

"That I can acquiesce into my schedule." She offered. "I love hanging out with my little nieces."

"Do you want to go out?" I asked Bella.

"Definitely, can you give me a couple to check my mail?"

"Yeah, take your time."

Bella set Payton down on the soft-carpeted floor and disappeared back out front. I decided to sit with my girls for a few minutes, so I situated myself on the floor with them in front of me. Hailey immediately pulled herself up onto all fours and started crawling over to Alice.

Ever since they started last month at the family gathering, both girls had picked up speed in their crawling abilities. It was now their favorite mode of transportation around the house. Bella, who had been keeping up with their development, advised me to do a recheck around the house to make sure everything was baby proofed and safe. Apparently the seven-month mark meant they would want to get into everything they could reach.

While Hailey kept herself entertained with a small piece of fabric at Alice's feet, I picked up Payton's two little hands and started to teach her "patty-cake", something Bella told me would keep them busy with each other once they both learned it. At first Payton wasn't too keen on keeping her hands up, she just wanted to hear me sing the song over and over again, another development right now.

They adored predictability and repetition.

I lost count how many times last night I had sung "Bop Goes the Weasel". Payton and Hailey loved whenever I clapped my hands at every "bop", and they were now waiting for it and "bopped" with me, even if they couldn't sing it yet.

"Ready?" Bella asked appearing in the doorway that led to the front of the studio.

"Yup,"

"Oh, where are you two going?" Alice asked turning around suddenly. Hailey looked up at her following her movement and reached her arms up indicating she wanted to be picked up. Alice scooped her little niece up and kissed her nose.

"I was thinking the little café just down the street."

"Can you get me a Greek salad, I'm really craving Feta cheese right now. Don't look at me like that," Alice scolded as both my eyes and Bella's bugged out at her. "I'm not pregnant, unfortunately, I'm menstruating."

"Sorry," I mumbled, "but yeah, I'll grab you one. Have fun."

"We always do," Alice smiled at Hailey, and then down to Payton who had crawled over to her feet.

I slipped my arm around Bella's waist as we walked out. "Now, you know you left them with her just so se could get in more "practice" right?" She asked as we headed toward the café.

"Yup," I replied. "Otherwise those girls would be with us right now. You know I can't resist family time."

"I'm glad it's just you and me, though. Do you think maybe we can grab lunch and then head home for a little "us" time?" She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled my mouth down to hers.

"I think I might be willing to comply to that request."

A/N: So sorry this chapter took so long. I'm having some serious writer's block with this story right now because it honestly doesn't have a plot; it's just a fluff fic.


	15. Daddy's Little Girls

**A/N: Chapter 15, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

In the last nine months of having our girls, this was going to be my first weekend alone with them. I sent Bella to stay at a spa for the weekend with my mother. She needed some serious down time to herself, and the empathetic ear that my mother could provide when it came to rearing children. Payton and Hailey had become very social and were eagerly engaging in play with other children their age at the park we frequented.

Bella was ready to pursue playgroups with other moms that had business with her photo studio and also had their hands full with nine-month-olds. She just wasn't quite sold yet on letting Payton and Hailey wander around in a sand pit with children she had only met a handful of times, even though the mothers of these children were respected clients.

I urged her to take the weekend for some rest and go relax with my mother who would surely have some sound advice for her. I even packed her bags for her and threw in several gossip magazines and her favorite novel along with my pillow. I knew it would help her sleep better away from all of us if she had something that smelled comforting to her.

Besides, I was planning to sleep with her pillow anyway…

I had a full weekend planned for the three of us that included going to visit Rosalie and Emmett so all three kids could play together. Rose was due soon so she would be taking it easy, but I'm sure Emmett and I could handle two baby girls and one very rowdy boy. Wait, maybe we can't… Uh oh. I might have to rethink that particular excursion.

So Bella had taken off this afternoon for the next two days and would return late Sunday afternoon recharged and refreshed. I'm hoping she brings back a massage technique idea or two for me to try on her.

I made sure the house was clean before she left, the nursery was picked up, and dinner for the three of us was already prepped. No matter how many times Bella nagged to help I told her to go play with Hailey and Payton. She was going to be away from them for two and a half days. She should get in as much time as possible. I could already feel some severe mommy separation anxiety coming. And that was a particular storm cloud I wanted to just blow over without even a chance of a drizzle.

The only chore left to be done around the house was grocery shopping so after Bella left, with only a few tears and a lot of hugs and kisses, I strapped the girls into their car seats in the Volvo and we made our way to the local market. I would have enlisted Alice's help were the girls younger, but they could sit up on their own in the front of the cart and barely fussed when I placed them in the pink liner.

I couldn't walk two aisles without someone commenting on how beautiful my daughters were, or how adorable they looked together in the cart. Both of them pointed incessantly at several objects as we walked past them and I relented to a couple boxes of Teddy Grahams. I knew they were pointing in the first place because they were hungry, so I took out the little containers of Cheerios I had packed for them and let them nibble away happily as I finished the shopping without any fuss.

When we got home I took Payton and Hailey inside first to lay them down for a short nap before dinner and then unpacked everything. I was just warming up the chicken I had made for dinner with an avocado and bean mash. I wasn't too keen on it, but Bella was going through a health food craze phase right now with the girls and I agreed with her on the point that starting them out healthy would keep them healthy.

At first getting Payton and Hailey to sit properly in their seats and not fuss was a real challenge, and we still have our tiffs here and there about the seat restraints, right now being a prime example.

Payton squirmed as I tried to sit her up in the seat so I could buckle to lap belt, but she kicked and cried a little, still tired from having just been woken up. Noticing this, Hailey squirmed too as I tried to put her in her seat. I was afraid this was going to happen.

_I will not call Bella, I will not call Bella, I will _not_ call Bella. _

"Alice," I said her name as a question when she answered the phone.

"You need help, don't you?" she replied without hesitation.

"A little, would you mind coming over for dinner, bring Jasper."

"We'll be there in about fifteen minutes. What's wrong, by the way?"

"They won't get into their seats without a fight."

Alice laughed lightly and repeated her promise to be over as soon as possible. I placed dinner in the oven to keep it warm, thankful I had made extra, and then took Payton and Hailey into the living room where I could watch them until Alice and Jasper arrived. I felt a little pathetic for having to call my sister for help, but I couldn't fight to get two little nine-month old girls into their highchairs alone. It was too much screaming.

I sat Payton and Hailey down in their playpen and handed them a ball to roll between them so I could set the table. I peeked over my shoulder every ten seconds or so to check on them, make sure they were happy for the moment.

Alice and Jasper arrived with a large gift bag in tow. Alice immediately went over to her nieces and showered them with kisses.

"This is why I call her and no one else." I laughed as Jasper joined me in the kitchen. "She is just so good with them."

"Like we've all said before, she's trying to get in as much practice as possible."

"That and she just _loves_ to spoil to them." I nodded toward the gift bag in the hallway.

Jasper looked over his shoulder at it. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just their toys they left behind the last time we babysat. Alice's way of being sneaky."

"I love my sister."

"Yeah, I love your sister, too."

Alice was able to get both girls into their highchairs without confrontations and even cut up their food for them. She and Jasper filled me in on how they were still trying to get pregnant, but no luck yet. I asked after the photo studio, knowing already everything that Bella filled me in on, but Alice gave me her perspectives on the business. Right now it was slow, but clients would soon be picking up for the holidays.

"Thanks for coming over, I appreciate the help." I hugged my sister tightly before she left, thanking her also for bringing back the girls' toys.

"You know I would never pass up a chance to see my favorite nieces."

"They're your only nieces, hon.," Jasper pointed out.

"For now, Rose thinks she's having a girl."

"Lucky her," I deadpanned, trying to hide a yawn "I still need to give them a bath and put then to bed, and then I get to sleep, yeah…"

"Need help with that?" Alice offered, hand on the doorknob. She would be more than willing to stay, but I wanted her to go home and spend time with her husband. She left without protest when I repeated my thoughts, and I waited until they were backing out of the driveway before I shut the door.

I set Payton and Hailey back up in their pen with some of the toys Alice had brought back and returned to the kitchen to clean up and put away any leftovers. I was tempted to throw out the rest of the mash and tell Bella we had finish it all, but I knew she had been looking forward to trying it, so I at least saved a single serving of it for her before dumping the rest of it where it belonged, in the garbage.

I was pleased to see my girls already growing tired when I picked them up to take them upstairs for a bath. This was going to be easy, but considering that they were both beginning to fall asleep in my arms, I would bathe them separately. It would be easy to sit them both in their tub seats, but not when they're falling asleep like this.

I washed Hailey first and dressed her in a clean sleeper before laying her down, and then washed Payton, repeating the same process. I kissed both girls, made sure the baby monitor was on, and kicked some toys out of the way in front of the cribs so Aro could lie down in his usual spot. He gave me an affectionate nuzzle before assuming said position and I patted his head in return.

Once I was finally able to settle down in my own bed I grabbed Bella's pillow pulling it tight to my chest and burying my nose in it. I fell asleep dreaming of her sweet hair and how it felt when I ran my fingers through it.

I took the girls over to Em and Rose's place on Saturday so we could all have lunch together and catch up while our children bonded and produced massive chaos as the girls crawled everywhere at once and Nathan ran a muck leaving disaster is his wake.

It was mine and Emmett's job to round them up come naptime so Rosalie could sit and rest at the table while we settled all three monsters down. Nate could sit in a regular chair on his own now so Emmett and I each took one of the girls and placed them in our laps to feed them.

"Have you two picked out a name yet?" I asked as I spooned some yogurt into Payton's mouth, which she dribbled down her chin onto her shirt.

Rose finished the bite of chicken salad she was chewing, "We're thinking maybe Marbella, or Emily, but spelled E-m-i-l-i-e."

Emmett looked up at her with a thoughtful expression. "How about combining them. Emilie Marbella Cullen."

Rose's eyes lit up and her smile spread across her face. "Oh my God, Emmett, I love you! That's perfect!" She leaned over to her husband next to her and planted a firm kiss on his lips.

"It does have a very nice ring to it." I agreed, attempting spoon two of the strawberry yogurt. This time Payton was neat about it and I was able to feed her another three half spoonfuls before she made another mess.

Emmett was having a much easier time with Hailey, who happily accepted every spoon of yogurt he fed her, and even laughed and clapped her hands happily in between.

"When are you due?" I asked wiping away the yogurt from Payton's chin with the spoon and placing the little amount in her mouth.

"Two months to go, and I am counting the days."

Emmett and I both laughed out loud, in turn making the children laugh with us. Rose just crossed her arms over her baby bulge and scowled at us. "I can't wait until men are able to start having babies, then I'll be the one laughing at the two of you."

Emmett and I shut up immediately as we thought about that and quickly went back to feeding Hailey and Payton. Rose made sure Nate was finishing his lunch instead of just playing with it then got up clearing her place and started to put leftovers away. I finished feeding Payton and laid her down in the playpen before going back to the table and taking Hailey from Emmett to lay her down as well.

Rosalie decided to lie down for a while so Emmett and I grabbed the baby monitor and turned it up before heading out back with Nate to mess around. Nate took to his jungle gym right away while Emmett and I picked up the football that was lying on the ground and started to toss it back and forth.

"So what time is Bella coming back tomorrow?" Emmett asked tossing me the pigskin.

"Early afternoon. I have to clean the house tomorrow. I'm going to ask Alice and Jasper to take the girls so Bella and I can go out and celebrate her birthday. Can you believe she's going to be twenty-four?"

"Nope, she'll always be Baby Bell to me."

I laughed out loud at Emmett's old high school nickname for my wife. "I'm planning a really nice candlelight dinner on the back deck, get the Jacuzzi going with some wine. I just want a nice perfect end to a relaxing weekend for her, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm already planning something like that for Rosalie after our little girl gets here. She runs in the direction of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, and furry handcuffs."

"Ugh, dude, do _not_ tell me these things. I don't want to know. And your son is only fifteen feet away." I looked over my shoulder to where Nate was just coming down the slide and jumped up running back around to the ladder to climb up and slide back down again.

"He can't hear me, and even if he could he would have no idea what I'm even talking about."

I tossed the football back to Emmett with a scowl and glanced once more in his son's direction. Emmett just shrugged his shoulders and tossed the ball to me.

We stayed outside for no more than a couple of hours, since Nate got bored with jungle gym after the first hour and decided to cycle on his knew tricycle through the grass. When he started ripping up said grass and making dirt balls, Emmett decided it was time to head in.

I gathered up my girls and thanked Emmett for having us over for the afternoon. He promised to pass the message along to Rose and gave his two nieces hugs and kisses before we left.

Once we got home I changed both Hailey and Payton and set them up in their pen in the kitchen so I could cook and keep an eye on them easily at the same time. I decided to spoil them tonight since they had been so good all day and made their favorite chocolate pudding for dessert along with chicken wontons for dinner.

I was just starting to boil the wontons when I heard the front door open.

_Oh no she did _not_ come home early._

"What are you doing home?" I asked incredulously as Bella walked into the kitchen. She scooped first Payton, and then Hailey and kissed them both soundly.

"Honestly, Edward, I couldn't bear to be away from you guys any longer. I didn't sleep last night. I need my family."

I wrapped my three girls up in my arms and kissed my wife in greeting. "I'm glad you're home, love, but I wish you would have stayed the whole weekend."

"I stayed long enough to learn a massage technique."

My eyebrow quirked in interest. "Really?"

"Care to try it out later?"

"I think these two little monsters will be out early, they had a full afternoon."

"Did you?" Bella asked looking to both our daughters with a bright smile. "Did you go play with Nate and Uncle Emmett today?" She cooed to them. I smiled to myself as I returned to dinner.

I was glad she was home. I had missed her terribly as well, and I would never admit it to her, but I had been she would be home early. Tomorrow was her birthday, and I couldn't wait to surprise her with the special dinner I had planned.

A/N: Again, I am SOOOO sorry this took forever. Please don't hate me! And please review! They are my chocolate since I am currently out.


	16. MaMa

**A/N: Chapter 16, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

After putting the girls down for the night I returned to our bedroom to find Bella relaxing in the tub with her head propped up on a pillow on the back ledge. I decided to just stand in the doorway and watch her, temped to strip down and join her, but for the moment I just wanted to watch. After a few minutes my shoulder started to get uncomfortable, and the frame squeaked when I readjusted myself.

Bella's eyes snapped open and she smirked at me. "Enjoying the view?" She asked, her voice low and seductive.

"Only always," I quipped back, taking the invitation she offered and approached the tub unbuttoning my shirt. I shed my clothes and climbed into the tub behind her pulling her between my knees. "So tell me about this massage technique." I asked cupping my hands around her shoulders.

Bella moaned a little as I dug my fingers into her skin and started working out the loose knots there. "She started out doing what you're doing, but I was lying on my stomach."

"Were you naked?"

"I had a towel over my butt. But other than that I was…nude." Bella turned over her shoulder and smirked at me. I felt my dick start to get hard and I shifted slightly behind my wife to try and make myself comfortable. "Did that excite you?"

"The thought of you naked always excites me, baby."

"Likewise, and let me just say that while I was lying there on that table all I could think about was you massaging me, and what you're hands would be doing to me."

As soon Bella said that I was out of the tub and grabbing a towel. I scooped Bella up and quickly dried her off gathering her into my arms and carrying her out into the bedroom. I wanted nothing more than to just take her now, but I wanted to show her how much I loved her.

I instructed Bella to lie down on her stomach and make herself comfortable. I grabbed a blanket and covered her delectable bottom with it and proceeded to locate the massage oil I had purchased the other day at the grocery store. I spent the forty minutes following Bella's mumbled directions for the massage, my dick growing harder and harder as Bella's moans became more frequent.

We finally twisted around each other some time after midnight making love slowly as we whispered how much we missed each other in between declarations of love and quiet groans.

After cleaning up and agreeing to change the sheets in the morning we passed out curled around each other. The last I whispered as Bella was falling asleep in my arms was a 'happy birthday' to her.

And to think, the day was only starting.

"Good morning, my love." I bent down and placed a soft kiss on Bella's lips as I walked into the kitchen. She was feeding Hailey and Payton mashed bananas for breakfast. "Happy birthday,"

"Thank you, your gift last night was very much appreciated." She winked at me and turned back to spoon some more mushy fruit into waiting mouths.

"That was just a part of it." I whispered in her ear, "Just so you know." I rubbed her back enjoying the shiver that ran down her spine at my words.

"Tease," Bella whispered as I walked over to the stove and started getting out the paraphernalia for pancakes.

"But I'm so good at it." I smiled back to her. "Chocolate or blueberry?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"Chocolate chip it is."

Bella finished feeding the girls while I whipped up the batter. I heard her promising them some of "Daddy's special food" if they behaved while she changed them. I was wondering why there was a pile of clean clothes on the couch when I came downstairs. I knew _I_ hadn't put them there.

I plated the first batch just as Bella came back in the kitchen, one girl on each hip. She was becoming surprisingly well balanced now. It was like her brain had suddenly realized, 'oh, there are children now, I better start being more graceful and stop falling down so much'.

She settled Payton and Hailey back into their high chairs easily, I was jealous, and I handed her the fresh pancakes.

Bella tore the first into tiny pieces and speared a piece with her fork. "Mm…" She hummed at Hailey as she passed the fork under her little nose.

Hailey smiled and repeated the sound. "Mm…Mm…Ma."

I turned toward my daughter, my mouth hanging open. I thought I heard the fork hit the floor, but it had hit the tray on the highchair.

"Did she just say what I think she said?" I asked incredulously. Payton starting clapping her tiny hands and laughing infectiously.

"Ma, ma!" She cried repeating Hailey's word that had made Mommy and Daddy look so funny.

"Get the camera." Bella said quickly. I dashed off to my office and grabbed the video camera from its shelf running back into the kitchen. Bella was ready with another piece of pancake and was encouraging Hailey. I flipped the camera open and hit record just in time.

"Ma! Ma!" Hailey said excitedly as Bella toyed with the pancake in front of her.

"I can't believe this," I breathed, continuing to film our daughters' first words. Bella turned back to and smiled brightly into the camera.

"I know, and I don't mean to downplay whatever it is you have planned, but this is the best birthday gift I could have asked for."

"No offense taken, sweetie, but I think I can push for a close second."

"I can't wait to see what it is. Here," Bella got up and offered me her seat. "You feed them, I want to take pictures." She ran upstairs quickly to grab her camera and was back down in record time.

I couldn't get the goofy smile off my face as I encouraged Payton and Hailey over and over again to keep saying 'Ma'. Bella clicked off what sounded like close to two dozen pictures, the whole time laughing, although I thought I heard a sniffle or two in there.

After breakfast, and after we had promptly showered our daughters with tons of kisses, I offered to clean while Bella called Alice about when she would be here to pick up her nieces. Alice confirmed some time in the afternoon, which would leave me plenty of time to get to the store and purchase everything I needed for a romantic evening, and also give Bella plenty of time to continue hearing Payton and Hailey say 'Ma'.

I could not have asked for anything better on her birthday this year. It truly was the perfect gift for her. And as a bonus for me, it would keep her sufficiently distracted and in a happy little daze while I got my romantic side in gear all over the house. I promised Bella I would be back in a little while, and that she would _not_ be allowed to help me bring things inside. I justified my reason as her wanting to relax. Today was her day.

And she's dared to say in the past that I'm not sneaky.

I bought everything I needed and headed back to the house. Bella was already at the front door with Payton on her hip smiling at me. "No," I stated with a laugh, watching Bella's grin slide into a frown. I kissed her sweetly, and then Payton and headed into the house with my goodies.

I heard the door shut behind me and turned to see Bella stalking me into the kitchen. "I said no," I laughed again and pointed her towards the living room. I could hear Hailey giggling as she banged on her xylophone. From the rhythms she had been producing out of that thing lately it was safe to assume she would be taking after me when it came to being musical.

"I sense another pianist in the family." Bella smirked at me as she headed for the living room, her shoulders falling.

"And stay out there!" I called after her as I unpacked.

I managed to get all of the food I wouldn't need right away stored in the fridge and went about beginning to prepare dinner. I could hear Bella playing a game with Hailey and Payton, all three of them laughing loudly. I kept one ear trained on the living room and the other trained for the door. The moment the girls were gone Bella would be in here snooping around, so I needed to get as much done as possible before dear little Alice arrived.

I was just taking the chocolate sauce off the stove to cool a little when the door opened and I heard two distinct squeals: one from Alice and the other from Bella. I stuck my head out into the living room to say hi, and then quickly returned to my work.

"No use hiding it, Edward." Alice called. "We can smell the chocolate out here."

"Good," I called back. "Step one foot in that kitchen while I'm upstairs and you'll regret it later." I mock threatened with a seductive smile to my wife as I passed her.

I headed upstairs to do up the bathroom for later and then cleaned the bedroom and changed the sheets on our bed. I placed more candles around the room that I would light later along with the ones in the bathroom.

I got back downstairs just in time to stop Bella from sneaking into the kitchen. I pointed her back out to the living room without a word and she slumped back the way she came. Alice hung around for another hour or so, effectively keeping Bella entertained as they played a couple games with Hailey and Payton and discussed work.

By the time Alice left I had half of the evening completed in terms of the food we would be eating. Bella knocked on the wall outside the kitchen, asking permission to come in. I granted and planted a soft kiss on her lips when she came to stand next to me at the stove.

"Miss your girls?" I asked as Bella moved behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"Yeah," She nodded against my back and kissed me through my shirt. "What kind of magic are you working in here? I smell a lot of butter."

"Yes you do. Taste this," I dipped a spoon into the small pot I was working over and turned offering it to Bella. She leaned up on her toes and took the spoon into her mouth, keeping eye contact with me as she attempted to seduce me with her actions and the sultry way she closed her eyes at the end.

I'll admit it was working.

"Mmm…I like that. What's it for?"

"Never you mind." I turned over my shoulder and winked at her. "For now," I went back to my butter sauce and told Bella if she wanted to help she could go sit in the living room with Aro and relax. I would not allow her to do a thing until later this evening.

I was very pleased when I finally completed my tasks in the kitchen and wandered out into the living room to find Bella curled up with Aro on the chaise, both breathing deeply. I quietly made my way upstairs and lit all of the candles in the bathroom and got a bath going with hot water and bubbles. I threw some fresh rose petals in the tub and dimmed the lights before leaving.

After checking the timer for our dinner I ventured back out in the living room where I woke Bella up gently with a kiss on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes fluttered open, a small tired smile gracing her lips.

"Would you like to go upstairs and take a nice hot bath?"

"That sounds lovely," Bell cooed. I scooped her up from the couch and carried her bridal style upstairs to our bedroom. I set her down on the bed and heard her gasp when she glanced into the bathroom. "Oh my God, Edward…"

"You like? It's all for you." I started helping her remove her clothes, rubbing her feet as I pulled her socks off. I let Bella finish and checked the water temperature, adding just a little more hot water before standing back up to be greeted with the sight of my wife in her favorite see-through robe.

"Are you trying to distract me?"

"Depends," Bella sauntered over to me, reaching up and letting her untied robe fall open as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "Is it working?" she started pressing kisses to the underside of my jaw and my jeans in response grew tight.

"Maybe," I hissed through my teeth as Bella started to unbutton my shirt. Her lips trailed down my neck to my shoulder, my collarbone, my neck… "Baby, I have to go check on dinner."

"Well," Bella pulled back leaving the only contact between to be her hands around my neck. "Why don't you go do that and then come back here? I'll be waiting for you."

Without a word of protest I dashed downstairs to check on everything still in progress and made sure it would all be safe for about twenty minutes or so and ran back up to the bathroom. I undressed on my way and was down to my shorts by the time I arrived back in our bathroom.

Bella was in the tub with her head resting against the back, everything else hidden beneath the bubbles. "Are you going to join me, or are you just going to stand there and stare?" she taunted, one eyebrow raised.

"Can't I just enjoy the view for a while?"

"Get in the tub with me, Edward." Bella demanded gently. She shut her eyes and sighed in way that dared me to test her. Ever the obedient husband, I slipped my shorts off glad of the release the action offered, and got in the tub behind my birthday girl.

"How is it?" I asked, pulling he back to my chest and rubbing her shoulders.

"The water or your improving massaging techniques?"

"Both, I suppose, now that you bring the latter up."

Bella sighed once more and sunk a little further down into the bubbly water. "Divine," she breathed.

"Good," I leaned in and pressed light kisses to her neck for several minutes, my hands continuing to work out the kinks in her muscles. Eventually Bella turned to face me, lopping her arms around my neck and straddling my lap in the tub.

We took our time enjoying the feel of our bodies wrapped together in the hot water, the only sounds in the room being our labored breathing and the soft lapping of the water against the edge of the tub. When we finally got out I dried off quickly and threw my shorts on requesting that Bella put on something dressy, but comfortable.

I quickly dressed in the nice pants and shirt I had laid out earlier for myself going barefoot and made my way downstairs to set up the back deck for dinner. Said meal was only minutes from being done and smelled wonderful.

I grabbed up the rest of the candles and Bella's favorite place settings to make the table and atmosphere perfect. Just as the last candle was lit I heard footsteps on the stairs, glad when there was no clicking of heels to accompany them as said footsteps made their way across the kitchen to the back door.

"This is too much, Edward." Bella breathed. I looked up blowing out he match in my hand and my jaw just about the hit the floor. Bella was dressed in the basic little black dress, the neckline cut at a low curve to show off her shoulders and sexy collarbone.

"You look so beautiful,"

"You don't look too bad yourself." She responded, a soft blush painting her cheeks. She walked over and reached up cupping one side of my face. "I like it when you don't shave for a few days. I like the scruff."

Now it was my turn to blush. "I have something for you." I whispered in her ear, my hand finding its way around her waist to hold the small of her back.

"What else could you possibly have to give to me?" She whispered back, her lips on my chin.

I reached into my pants pocket and pulled the small jewelry case I had also picked up this afternoon. "I want you to wear this for me tonight." I told her as I flipped the lid back. Inside was nestled a white gold ring with a heart-shaped garnet. I lifted the ring from the box to reveal that it was on a sliver chain.

"The girls' birthstone." Bella breathed. I nodded and motioned for her to turn so I could string the necklace on her. After fastening the catch and fixing her hair Bella turned back around to show me how it looked. "I love it, Edward, thank you." She stood up on her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck pressing her lips to mine.

"Are you ready for dinner?" I asked once we parted. Bella nodded, her nose rubbing against mine. We broke apart, a little unwillingly, and I pulled her chair out for her, promising to be right back with our meal.

When I returned with two plates Bella was looking up at me in greeting with a bright smile on her face. It only grew brighter when she realized I had made her absolute favorite tonight. After serving her I filled Bella's glass with the white wine I chosen to accompany the scallops and sat down across her lifting my glass for a birthday toast.

"Thank goodness you only pull out the big guns like this once or twice a year or it wouldn't be so effective." Bella stated after we clinked glasses took a sip of the wine.

"The biggest gun has yet to be pulled." I responded suggestively. From her expression and the blush panting her cheeks yet again I could tell Bella was trying to decide whether I meant more surprises…or something else.

We made light conversation over dinner about Hailey and Payton and what their next milestone would be. We fed each other little bits of scallops and shared light kisses and caresses. I knew Bella was very satisfied with everything I had done for her today, and she would be even more satisfied once I finished with her for the evening.

I cleared the plates after dinner and returned to the table with the small of chocolate dipped fruit I had prepared earlier in the afternoon. Dessert was much more sensual than dinner, as I had been expecting it to be. Bella pulled out every trick she knew to get me riled up. And every single one worked.

Before disappearing upstairs for the evening we made sure all of the candles were blown out, the doors were locked, and all perishables were back in the fridge. I grabbed what was left of the fruit and wine and Bella grabbed the glasses.

We decided to string out the seduction a little more until the wine was gone and then got down to the part of the evening we had both been waiting for. I was smart and had snuck upstairs to light the candles in the bedroom while Bella had been clearing the tables and putting the dishes in the washer. She had insisted and I relented just so I could set the scene upstairs.

We woke up the next morning tangled in our sheets, our naked bodies wrapped up tight. Matching goofy smiles adorned our faces as we kissed each other good morning. I didn't want to get out of bed, but the work world called.

We made love once more before finally breaking the perfect bubble we had created the night before and started to get dressed. It was days and nights like yesterday that always reminded me Bella and I were going to be together forever. We loved each other so intensely that nothing could ever break us apart. And we always made sure to make time for each other, like the previous evening.

So long as we keep each other and our girls first in our minds and hearts, we are going to have a very long, very happy life together.


	17. Three Babies and a Holiday

**A/N: Chapter 17, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

This year Thanksgiving would be held at Emmett and Rose's house so she wouldn't have to travel seeing as she was due in a couple weeks. There was no doubt in anyone's mind now that she was having a girl, but come the moment she popped the next Cullen baby out we would all be waiting to hear from Emmett that he had another son.

Jasper and I even had a bet going with my father.

But I wasn't thinking about that as I struggled to help Bella get winter jackets on Hailey and Payton so we could head to their aunt and uncle's. Bella had gone out and bought new dresses for them to wear today, and the chiffon skirts were rather difficult to pull a zipper up over. And Hailey wouldn't exactly cooperate as I tried to dress her foot in a little lace-collared sock.

Once both girls were fully dressed, bundled up, and secured in their car seats Bella and I finished getting ourselves ready for the cold weather. I had grown up on the east coast, so I was used to the biting cold, but Bella had grown up in hot, sunny Phoenix. She was pulling on gloves, a scarf, a hat, and her pea coat while I simply dressed in my favorite black beanie and my normal winter jacket.

"You're going to be boiling in the car, you know." I pointed out to her as we each took one of the seats by the handle and headed out the door. Both girls had fallen asleep in a matter of minutes after getting them situated. I guess all the fussing had worn them out.

"At least I won't be freezing when we get back out of the car. I'll be nice and toasty." Bella threw me a wiseass look as we secured both car seats in the back of the Volvo. I leaned across the back seat and pressed my mouth to hers reaching out to cup her cheek.

I looked down to Hailey and Payton as they both stirred in their seats, but didn't wake. "Can you believe that in two months they're both going to a year old already?"

"Don't remind me," Bella sighed as she got in the front seat. She threw a wistful glance at our twin daughters in the rearview mirror. "I wish they could stay like this forever."

I got in the driver's seat and reached across the console taking her hand. "I do, too, but just think of all the milestones and fun times we're going to have with them as they get older."

"I'm enjoying right now. Soon they'll be taking their first real steps, Edward. And then more words, and…"

I shushed my wife by leaning over the console and kissing her once more. "Like you said, enjoy right now." I started the engine, and with a smile for my wife and we drove over to Rose's and Emmett's in comfortable silence, a CD of my own compositions playing softly from the speakers.

Emmett was the one to answer the door and dutifully took the large paper bag from Bella's free hand. The other one was holding Payton's car seat. I held the door for her as we both walked in, my mother appearing out of nowhere to wrap us both up in warm hugs.

"If you're here, where's dad. I didn't see his car in the driveway?" I asked as I shrugged out of my coat and hung it up. Esme scooped Hailey from her carrier holding her gingerly to her shoulder with one hand.

"Getting Alice and Jasper, they can't get out of their driveway in this weather." She nodded toward the window and I turned over my shoulder to see more snow starting to fall. Esme took Payton as well as Bella handed her over to her grandmother and I helped my wife slip from her coat.

Bella immediately took Payton back, holding her to her shoulder the same way my mother was holding Hailey, and the three of us made our way to the living room. Rosalie was relaxing in an armchair, her swollen feet up on the footrest as she rubbed her belly.

"I just want to have this baby now and get it over with." She deadpanned as we walked in. Bella sat down on the couch dropping the baby bag at her feet.

"I feel your pain, Rose." She smirked as she situated Payton in her lap and started digging around for two bottles in the bag. Esme offered to sit with Bella and feed Hailey, but Bella said she could handle it and Hailey would be fine playing for a minute or two while she fed Payton.

My mother and I left Bella and Rose to their girl talk and we headed for the kitchen where Emmett was currently unpacking the paper bag Bella had brought with us. Inside was the pie I had baked yesterday, a favor for my mother, and a casserole Bella had put together.

"This isn't leftover casserole is it?" Emmett inquired as he examined the plastic covered glass dish.

"It's green bean casserole, Emmett!" Bella yelled from the living room.

Emmett put the dish down and threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry," he muttered. My mother and I shook our heads at him as we placed the items in the fridge for later. I started to help clean up and get things organized for the cooking she still had left to do.

Just as I had gotten myself settled at the breakfast table with a bowl and several bags of frozen cranberries, I heard the telltale sound of two tiny feet on the stairs and suddenly Nate was throwing himself into my lap.

"Easy there, champ, look what Uncle Edward has in his hand." Nate looked up at me, and to the paring knife I had in hand, that was safely lying on the table for the moment.

"Sorry, Uncle Edward, I wanted a hug."

I gave my nephew his request and told him to be careful as he ran a muck through the house that Emmett had undoubtedly cleaned for his wife. I heard my brother calling after his son as he chased him into the living room, a pair of brown corduroy pants in his hand. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that Nate was running around half naked at the moment.

"Nate, sit still for your father, please." I heard Rose moan quietly from the living room. The chasing effectively stopped and I watched as Emmett successfully secured the snaps of the jumper in place, giving his son a tap on the behind as he took off again.

"Thanks, Rose." He murmured and I heard him sit on the couch. "I'll tell you, Bells, that does not look like green bean casserole to me. There aren't enough crunchy onions on top to justify it as green bean casserole."

"Well if _someone_," And Bella raised her voice high enough that I could hear her in here, cringing from the tone because I knew she was directing the accusation at me, "Didn't eat all the crunchy onions yesterday as I making the casserole, there would be more on top."

I cringed again as I sliced cranberries in half. Behind me at the counter, my mother snickered quietly. I glanced at her just as she walked into the pantry and pulled a can of crunchy onions off the shelf setting it on the island for later use.

"You were always like that as a kid, too." She commented to me.

"They are one of the best tasting things in the world, and only taste better during the holiday." Esme just snickered again and concentrated on decorating her Thanksgiving cookies.

Once I finished with everything my mother needed help with I ventured out into the living room and made myself comfortable beside my wife. She was watching Hailey and Payton where they played on the floor in front of her.

"Have they tried standing on their own yet?" Emmett asked from his new position in the chair beside Rosalie. He continued rubbing her feet as he waited for Bella's answer or mine.

"They can stand when we help them, and maybe for a moment on their own, but no first steps yet. Although last week Hailey did say, "Da,". Payton hasn't said it yet." Bella summarized. "We were both grinning ear-to-ear. First they say "Ma," around my birthday, and now closer to the holidays Hailey starts saying, "Da,"." Bella continued to gush with such enthusiasm it brought a smile to my face.

Hailey looked up from where she had been enthralled with the current noise-maker in her lap and started to clap and laugh as she repeated after Bella over and over, "Da, da."

"Where are my two favorite nieces?"

Alice appeared in the living room a moment later with a wide grin on her face as she scooped up Hailey planting a kiss on her cheek and then scooped up Payton giving her a kiss as well.

"We have some news." She exclaimed as she sat in Jasper's lap where he had settled on the loveseat.

I watched as Bella's eyes bugged out for a moment and she stared at my sister with her mouth slightly slack. "Sorry to get your hopes up, but it's not an announcement for another baby Cullen, well Hale technically, but you get the point. We won't be here for Christmas."

Bella's expression melted away and she nodded once. "Where are you two off to?" she asked, plopping Hailey in my lap before she could crawl away somewhere out of sight.

"We're going on a cruise the week of Christmas. We thought maybe getting away for a little while might help relax us and make things…easier." Jasper elaborated.

Alice gave him a wistful glance and leaned down slightly to kiss his forehead. My sister wasn't having the easiest time getting pregnant. She and Jasper had been trying for almost eight months now and babies had yet to happen.

"So when are you two leaving?" My mother asked as she picked up Payton, who had been holding out her little arms to her grandmother.

Jasper pulled out his Blackberry and opened something up on it. "On the twentieth and we get back on the twenty-eighth. I think we're going to the western Caribbean, I don't remember." He put his phone away and turned to his wife. "We need a little time for just us right now."

"Yeah we do." Alice agreed, running her fingers down the side of his face. She turned to Bella after a moment, "And we figured it was a good week to go since the studio is closed the whole of Christmas."

"Yes, good thinking." Bella winked at my sister.

After a moment of awkward silence passed around the family, Nate made an appearance breaking it with a statement about needing his underwear changed that sent us all into fits of laughter, effectively breaking the tense moment.

Once we all regained our breaths we wished Jasper and Alice luck with everything everyone except Rose getting up to offer hugs and encouragement. The rest of the afternoon was spent with most of us chasing after three curious children and helping Rose move around as she went on sporadic bathroom breaks.

Instead of a formal dinner at the table, we had a large buffet style picnic in the living room while watching cheesy holiday sitcoms on TV and simply enjoying the family time together. We all knew in the coming years as our family grew, the holidays were going to be the only time we would see each other. And each holiday right now as it came upon us was treated extra special.

Later that evening Bella and I cuddled close after laying Hailey and Payton down for the night. For some time we just lay there whispering to each other softly and making out lazily. I could tell she was tired, probably exhausted, because she wasn't pulling my hair quite as hard as she normally would if she was looking to take things a little further.

I took a moment to gaze up at her, running my hand through her hair and down her cheek. She was absolutely breath taking in the moonlight, the pale glow highlighting the lines of her cheekbones casting shadows across her face and leaving the expression in her eyes a complete mystery.

"What are you thinking?" I asked finally.

"About how much I love you." Bella sighed. She turned her face to the side and kissed my palm where it still lay on her cheek. "And about how much I want to..." she trailed off.

"Want to what, sweetheart?"

"I want to give you a son. I want to see you running around the backyard like Emmett and Nate. I want to see you and our little boy in the bathroom together while he tries to shave like his daddy." Bella laughed a little and I chuckled leaning up to kiss her.

"How long have you been thinking this over?"

"A couple months now. Interacting with Nate and watching him grow has…accelerated my thinking a bit." Bella flopped down beside me propping herself up on one elbow. "What do you think?"

I let out a long breath and turned onto my side so I was facing her. "You really want another baby?"

"I do,"

"Right now?" I asked.

"Not right now, maybe after the girls' first birthday, or a few months after…whenever we decide together that we're ready."

"And what if we don't have a boy? What if we have another girl?"

"I considered that, too. I don't want to keep having babies until a boy appears, but I do want to have another baby with you, Edward."

"I don't want to start trying now and you wind up getting pregnant before Alice."

"I don't want that either." Bella shook her head. "And I would prefer waiting until Hailey and Payton are at least a year old first. Get through a whole year with them so we know what to look forward to with the next one. I don't want to discourage your sister anymore than she already is."

We lay there in silence for several more minutes as our eyes said everything that our voices could not. In the end we agreed to pick up the conversation another time, at a later date. We made love twice before finally falling asleep in each other's arms, listening to each other's breathing as we drifted into a peaceful rest.


	18. Birthdays and More Babies

**A/N: Chapter 18, revised. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. **

**EPOV**

By the time the Hailey and Payton's birthday rolled around at the end of January many events had taken place within the Cullen family. Rose and Emmett had welcomed their now two-month-old daughter Juliana Marie into the family, a beautiful tiny blonde with Emmett's curls and Rosalie's flawless features. Mine and Bella's precious duo took their first official steps on their own right around Christmas.

We wished fervently that Alice and Jasper could have been present to see it, but we sent them an email of the video that my mother took of Hailey and Payton walking to the Christmas tree, albeit unsteadily, and they picked up a wrapped box with matching brilliant smiles. Two weeks later when the happy couple returned from their cruise they announced the news we had all been waiting months to hear, and were quite shocked it happened so suddenly upon returning home.

Alice was due to finally expect her first child sometime in August. Apparently she had been pregnant at Thanksgiving, but had not known at the time. We were all so happy for them that an impromptu party broke out at my parents' house during the occasional family dinner, and we all spent an entire evening going through baby books, both old and new.

Moving just a little bit more forward brings us all to Hailey and Payton's first birthday. Alice was not taking a backseat for the planning but she promised not to go over the top. Her doctor wanted her taking it easy throughout her pregnancy, and Jasper was standing by to call her out when and if she became too energetic.

Bella and I woke up early the morning of to go downstairs and start prepping all of the food for later in the day, deciding to let the girls sleep in just a little late. Eventually we heard soft crying filter through the monitor on the counter and Bella disappeared upstairs to gather our little ones.

I had breakfast waiting for all of us when she appeared with one girl on each hip. I laughed out loud at the sight and crossed the room to take Payton, lessening the burden Bella was inducing on slim figure. We sang happy birthday to our girls as they laughed, smiled, and clapped along with us. It wouldn't be the last time today the song would be sung.

I offered to take care of bath and dress duty while Bella cleaned the house and put up the decorations. She had something special planned for Alice, but we would wait until after the party and all of the children were asleep to present it. As I crouched on the floor beside the tub and did my best to wash Hailey and Payton and I realized I should have watched Bella more often and they way she handled them because I couldn't get either of them to sit still for me.

I was half tempted to take them out of the tub for a minute and run downstairs to beg my wife to switch places with me, but the moment the thought crossed my mind I heard the vacuum switch on and knew Bella would have her iPod on as well as she cleaned. She would be in her zone trying to relax her mind…and I knew I would feel guilty to my core if I disrupted that.

"Hailey, please," I laughed as she splashed the water getting my already wet button down even more soaked. Payton giggled and followed suite. "Can you two sit still for five minutes for me, please? I need you both sparkling."

"Need a hand?"

I turned to see Bella smirking at me from the doorway. I assumed she had finished downstairs and had come up to check on me. "No, no I'm ok." I lied. Hailey took the opportunity to splash me again. Bella laughed and walked crouching down next to me.

"Hailey, that was not very nice to do to daddy." Hailey responded by splashing more water and showered Bella in some of the foamy bubbles floating around. "Hailey Elizabeth," she scolded gently without raising her voice. She reached into the tub and lifted her out, Hailey beginning to cry at the sudden change in temperature from the warm water to the cool air.

Bella wrapped her up in a fluffy towel and she stopped crying almost immediately, but she reached her hands out back toward the tub, her sniffling continuing. "No, we're going to take a bath in the other tub so Daddy can wash Payton. You're just too overexcited this morning."

Bella walked out a moment later after giving me a soft kiss in encouragement. I heard the bathroom door in our guest room open and the water start to run along with Hailey's scream as Bella plopped her in the different tub.

I turned to my daughter and started wiping down her chubby little arm. "Your sister doesn't sound too happy right now. See what happens when you splash mommy and daddy too much?" Payton laughed at me loudly as I washed around her ribs, and I knew it was because she was extremely ticklish in that spot. Just like her mother.

After both girls were clean I laid them down for a short nap and hoped to take one myself, but I stopped dead when I walked into mine and Bella's bedroom and was met with the sight of my wife waiting for me on the bed, dressed in a new baby doll I hadn't seen before. She sat up against the headboard beckoning me toward her as she curled her finger in a very suggestive and seductive way.

"What is this?" I asked, my fingers already unbuttoning my shirt. I dropped the damp garment to the floor and quickly shed myself of my pants sighing in relief as my hardening erection was freed.

Bella didn't respond, she simply intensified her gaze and laid down on the bed a little more and propped herself up on her elbows. I got up on the bed and crawled towards her. She opened her arms to me and I slipped into them easily as I situated myself between her legs comfortably, already trying to find friction to relieve myself just a little more.

Hearing my wife moan my name as I kissed along the column of her neck was driving me crazy and I just wanted to be inside her. Now. Bella twitched in anticipation as I ran my hand underneath the silky material of her baby doll and fingered the hem of the thong she was wearing. I pulled the scrap of material down her legs before shedding my shorts and sheathing myself in her hot little body.

With a squeal of delight Bella threw her legs around my hips pushing her ankles into the small of my back forcing me deeper into her. I moaned her name into her neck, my nose buried in her hair. She smelled sweet and floral, and just Bella. We were rough with each other for the first round using words to reach our peaks. But the second round was slower, sweeter.

We took our time loving each other, maintaining eye contact as we stroked, caressed, and whispered nonsense to each other. Afterwards we curled up facing each other, arms draped across each other's bodies. I glanced at the clock after a while and decided we still had enough time to shut our eyes for a bit and get some rest before the rest of the family arrived.

About a half hour later I felt my cell phone buzzing under my pillow. I reached for it while trying not to disturb Bella at the same time and flipped it open. It was just my alarm going off. With a sigh in defiance I rubbed Bella's back in a first attempt to get her to wake up and then started shaking her lightly where she lay on my chest.

She moaned softly in her sleep, but her eyes peeked open at me and she smiled. "Do I have to get up?"

"Yes, if you want to celebrate our daughters being with us for a year now." I kissed her forehead and started to sit up forcing Bella to sit up as well. She curled against me and we started making out for several minutes, trying not to let the situation go too far.

Eventually we let go of each other and got out of bed to start getting ready for the impending festivities. I finished dressing first and went to wake Payton and Hailey so I could change them into their matching party dresses. I attempted the impossible of putting their beautiful brown curls up into pink hair clips so it was at least out of their eyes, but both of my darling daughters would not hold still long enough for me to pin up anything.

Thankfully Bella came in to relieve me and I headed downstairs to set everything up. I had barely begun to fill the food dishes when the door opened and my parents walked through, their arms laden with gift bags. After dropping them in the hallway, my mother proceeded to push me out of the kitchen. I grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed one to my father.

"Don't bother trying to get back in there, she won't let you." He commented clapping me on the shoulder as we headed into the living room to sit.

"So what did you get my two little monsters?" I asked after a quick sip from my beer and kicking my feet up on the nearest ottoman.

"You'll have to wait until they unwrap them." Carlisle smirked back at me. I heard distinctive footsteps coming down the stairs and rushed to hide my drink in the kitchen before Bella caught me with it. "My three favorite girls," I called as the loves of my life descended the stairs together.

Payton and Hailey squealed in delight when they saw my father sitting in the living room, and they rushed over, as fast as Bella could walk them over holding their tiny hands, and immediately crawled up into his lap. My mother appeared from the kitchen with a tray of snacks and then promptly disappeared back in there.

Bella, Carlisle, and I sat around catching up while Hailey and Payton demanded attention left and right until a knock on the door made me get up to let my brother and sister-in-law in with one rug rat in tow and another racing into the living room to climb into Grandpa Carlisle's lap.

After hugs and well wishes for Hailey and Payton, Rose and Bella sauntered into the kitchen to join my mother, where I followed simply to grab my beer and one for Emmett.

Not fifteen minutes later Alice and Jasper walked in, Alice heavily bundled in many layers. They joined the group in the living room, and with so many people out there now to pay attention to the little ones I took a moment to stick my head in the kitchen.

The women, minus Alice, were currently putting together enough food together to feed a small army, but then I remembered we had my brother here, who could eat the same amount, and one pregnant woman who might just be able to match him.

"Do you want any help in here?" I asked, trying to sound sincere, but I really wanted to be able to get back out in the living room and talk with my brothers.

"We're good in here for now." Bella smiled at me. "But if you want, you can start taking some of the food out." She walked over with a tray placing it in my hands. "We'll all be out in a minute."

The tray I brought out, consisting of cheese and crackers and fruit, didn't last five minutes between Jasper, Alice, and of Emmett as he shoved cracker after cracker in his mouth.

I sat on the floor laughing to myself with Hailey in my lap playing with her favorite stacking toy. I was about to tell Emmett to shut up and stop moaning for more food when his wife walked in followed by my own and my mother, all brandishing party related items; plates, food, drinks, cups etc.

We all had to smack Emmett's hands away so Jasper could have the chance to make a plate for his pregnant wife first. Once everyone was sufficiently fed and watered it was time to open all the gifts that had been piling up by the door as everyone walked through it.

Hailey and Payton were showered with new toys, clothing, and learning supplements all fitted for one-year-olds. Each time we handed them a new box to unwrap they smiled broader, laughed louder, and no one could keep Bella from clicking away with her camera a mile a minute.

Esme brought the cake out once all of the wrapping paper had been picked up. I watched all eyes light up, children included, at the flickering candles and bright pink icing that Alice had picked out. We sang happy birthday and Bella and I held our daughters in our laps as we helped them blow out the big 1 candle along with the two smaller candles, one for each girl.

However, the final surprise for the evening had yet to be revealed. It wasn't until Nate, Juliana, Hailey, and Payton had all fallen asleep across everyone's laps that Bella presented Alice with a photo album very similar to the one that she and I had been keeping since before our daughters were born.

She had already filled some of the pages with photos from their wedding, honeymoon, and the past year with all the other Cullen children. When we had decided to do something special for Alice after everything she had done for us, we knew in a moment that this was it.

Bella handed Hailey off to me to fill my already full lap and climbed up on the couch to give Alice a big hug and start going through the album with her. It was passed around the living room several times, as more cake was served to the adults and food was packed up to be taken home by various family members.

After we all said our final goodbyes, Bella and I headed upstairs for the evening, Aro at our heels. We changed the girls, choosing to dress them in some of their new pajamas. We stood over the crib for a long time after tucking them in just watching them sleep. Aro had already assumed his nightly position in front of their cribs and was snoring lightly.

"So, twenty-one months ago…" I started.

"I didn't know I was pregnant with two girls, however…twenty months ago…" Bella looked up at with a glowing smile as she remembered my surprise birthday gift.

"Did you see us here, over a year later?" I slipped an arm around her waist clutching her to my side.

"Yes, and so much more." She turned in my arms and I slipped the other around her so they formed a complete circle. "But it wasn't just me that brought these little bundles into our lives, it was you _and_ me. And I can not thank you enough for all of the joy they have brought my life."

Bella stood up on her toes to kiss me lightly, her hands snaking around my neck in the process. "_Our_ life," She whispered as she pulled back.

"I couldn't have done it without you." I whispered back, pressing my forehead to hers.

"I have something for you."

My eyebrow cocked in surprise. "Haven't there been enough this evening?"

"I think you'll enjoy this one." Bella took my hand and led me from our daughter's room, turning on the nightlight on the way out. I grabbed the baby monitor and we headed down the hall to our room.

Bella instructed me to sit on the bed and walked across the room picking up a photo frame from the desk that I had not noticed earlier tonight. She sat down next to me handing me the frame.

I was absolutely speechless as I stared down at the image before me. It was one I did not recognize and I knew in an instant that it was a new one.

"When?"

"About a month ago," Bella said nervously. "I'm due around our anniversary. And…" Bella pointed out a little dot on the sonogram, "This means we're having a boy."

"Just one?" I teased. Bella punched me lightly in the shoulder. "Ow…sorry. But seriously, a boy?"

Bella nodded, her lips stretching into a small smile. "And I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be giving you a son."

"I'm thrilled that we're having another baby." I said softly. I set the picture down and pulled Bella into my arms drawing us down to the bed together. "I can't wait for the next little bundle to join our family."

Bella touched her lips to mine several times before pulling back to hover over me with a brilliant, shining expression. "Me either,"

A/N: I hope you're all happy with the ending of this story. I hope I have enough closure on all topics that everyone wanted to see touched upon. There will not be a sequel, however. I have several other stories that require much attention at this time, and am having a very hard time writing. Real life is seriously getting in the way right now in terms of homework and just being mentally exhausted after classes upon classes and then having to return to my apartment and do more work.

Please be patient with me, I am trying to stay on top of all my stories as best I can.

Thank you everyone for all of your support on everything. Keep it coming by clicking the green button below.

Hugs to all!


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